Top student leader is arrested in Nepal

KATHMANDU: Gagan Kumar Thapa, a prominent student leader was arrested early Tuesday morning from his hideout in Kathmandu.


Thapa's friends told The Times Of India that he was arrested with two of his colleagues in an early morning sweep by security forces. He has been jailed at a police station barely 500 metres from the Narayanhity Royal Palace.

A charismatic student leader who shot to fame in late 2003 for shouting republican slogans on the streets of Kathmandu, Thapa was charged with sedition by the King's government and jailed for more than 2 weeks before rising youth anger forced his release.

As secretary general of the Nepali Congress' student wing, he played a prominent role in bringing republican issues to mainstream discourse in summer of 2004, prompting his party to fire him from the student body.

But instead of disappearing, Thapa emerged as the most popular youth leader who could not be ignored. His arrest, therefore, comes as a big victory for the royal regime.

Minutes after his arrest became public through a secret grape vine, human rights networks kicked into high gear in an effort to bring the news out.