With election dates announced and as turf wars begin, clashes between the youth wings of the Maoists and other political parties are intensifying across the country.

The mainstream political parties and their student unions say they fear the YCL's systematic intimidation will increase in the run-up to the elections. Deployment of student unions by their parent parties could spur violence in the run-up to the elections.

Already, run-ins between the league and the NC-affiliated Nepal Student Union (NSU), in particular, are escalating. On 15 June the NSU's former president, Guru Raj Ghimire, was assaulted by the YCL. "I just spoke out against the YCL's anti-political anarchy," says Ghimire.

Popular NSU leader and former general secretary Gagan Thapa says there have been four attacks on NSU members in Kathmandu in recent days and accuses the Maoists of provoking his group. The Maoist leadership has denied involvement in Ghimire's beating.

The NSU's just-elected president Pradip Poudel warns of retaliation, while other senior members we spoke with say they are starting a "peaceful" offensive against YCL excesses. They understand the sensitive nature of transitional phase, they say, but echo Ghimire's caveat that, they "will not be silent spectators for too long". Some of this posturing is the result of tensions between the Tarun Dal and the NSU after former Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka proposed that the two NC-affiliated groups be merged to form a 'Peace Army'. The NSU is scheduled to hold a gathering at Basantapur on Friday and NC president and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is to address the meeting.

In the early days of the peace process, the YCL and Maoist militia were attacking workers of the UML-affiliated All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU). But now the UML's union seems to have made peace with the YCL. Former ANNFSU general secretary Thakur Gaire says his group and the YCL have been meeting to sort out problems as they arise. He dismisses chances of unity with the NSU against the Maoist YCL.

But though most party leaders speak out against the YCL in public, we are told that in eight-party meetings this does not translate into pressure on the Maoists to rein in their cadre as no one wants to alienate the Maoists or weaken the alliance.

Before leaving Nepal last week, the UN's Office of the High Commmission on Human Rights, Lena Sundh, handed a damning report on the YCL to Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. "The human rights abuses committed by the YCL are contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation," the report said, expressing worries that the threat of violence would poison the atmosphere for elections.

As a November date starts to look possible and parties plan their return to the districts, everyone agrees the threats have to stop. And the frontline of the campaign might well be skirmishes between the YCL and the party-affiliated students.