SHALIGRAM TIWARI

Even as the UML has been demanding the scrapping of the Maoist- affiliated Young Communist League (YCL), it has come up with its own clone: the Youth Force. It acts as the strong arm of the party and is a subsidiary of the UML-controlled Democratic National Youth Organisation.

The organisation's president, Ajambar Kangmang, is quick to deny any similarity with the YCL. "We don't live in the barracks, we don't carry arms, we don't take law in our own hands or administer justice through kangaroo courts," Kangmang says. But some of these things is exactly what the Youth Force has been involved with in the past weeks.

The YF recently made headlines after manhandling a clerk in Department of Labour who it said was allegedly caught red-handed while taking bribe. The official says he was framed, and he's been the victim of a YF-instigated media witch-hunt.

The YF's Mahesh Basnet says it was not their intention to manhandle the clerk. "The force has been established with an aim to help the state to combat the existing disorder and lawlessness in the country," he says.

Youth Force was formed in early June, but senior UML figures like Pradeep Nepal are still denying it existence. Nepal even says the UML doesn't need a group of such character. On the other hand, Gokarna Bista, who is in-charge of UML's youth wing, claims that the force was formed under the suggestion of the party but as the central committee of the party has not had a chance to meet, it is yet to have a discussion on the issue. But Bista maintains that although Youth Force will not endorse activities similar to YCL, the force will not keep quiet if anyone attempts to assault or harass its workers.