KalimNews: Several vehicles plying in NH31A were damaged by GJVM activists during the strike called by GJVM, though GJVM denied the allegation, drivers of the 4 damaged vehicles and passengers confirmed the allegation. Utility and Jeeps bound to Siliguri from Gangtok were damaged by the bandh supporters. Meanwhile GJMM withdrew the strike of 19th February , however there will be two hours Condolence strike from 10am to 12 noon.
KalimNews: Two martyrs of EFR were brought to their home in Kalimpong and given civil homage. A memorial service was organised by GJMM and Bimal Gurung President GJMM was present in the programme who also addresed the gathering in Mela Ground. Bodies of Sahid Pem Tshering Bhutia of Paiyun and Damber Chhetri of East Main Road were brought here at about 3 am in the morning. After the programme their bodies were sent to their respective homes for the last rites. Damber was cremated today while Bhutia will be cremated tomorrow. Pix: Samiran Paul
Attack on hill MLA house
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TT, Darjeeling, Feb 18: The house of the GNLF MLA from Kurseong, Shanta Chhetri, was set on fire today after violence spread in parts of the Darjeeling hills during the 24-hour strike called by the Vidyarthi Morcha.
The immediate trigger was the arrest of 77 Gorkhaland supporters in Siliguri for blocking NH55 and NH31 early in the morning. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has blamed the violence “on agitating public” and “various elements that may have taken advantage of it”.
Shortly after 10am, a mob went on the rampage in Kurseong, attacking the police station there with stones and setting on fire three police vehicles and damaging five others.
The residences of S. K. Pradhan, president of the ABGL’s Kurseong subdivision, and Palden Bhutia, a former commissioner of Ward 19 of the Kurseong municipality who had won on a GNLF ticket, were ransacked.
The Morcha has withdrawn the 12-hour strike called tomorrow to condemn the Shilda massacre. “But everything will remain shut between 10am and noon when we will be holding condolence meetings in memory of the slain EFR jawans all over the hills tomorrow,” said Amar Lama, a Morcha central committee member.
The hills turned volatile in the morning after news filtered in that 23 students picketing at Darjeeling More in Siliguri had been picked up around 7am. The students immediately started demonstrating in front of police stations across the hills, demanding the release of the arrested persons in Siliguri.
Reports of the police picking up another 70 picketers from Salugara near Siliguri and Malbazar in Jalpaiguri district in the Dooars added to the tension.
“One police vehicle was completely damaged and four private vehicles which were seized by the police and parked on the police station compound were also damaged,” said a witness in Kurseong.
Later, the mob targeted the MLA’s house on Dow Hill Road. “Since my husband is very ill I was at the hospital. My son and daughter-in-law too, had come to the hospital with his lunch when my house was torched. I have not opposed the statehood demand. Why are they targeting me even now?” said the MLA, blaming the Morcha without naming them.
“I have informed all the top police officers about the incident. However, the police cannot even venture out leave alone arrest people,” alleged Shanta Chhetri.
Darjeeling police chief D.P. Singh admitted that government vehicles were not being allowed to ply. “Whenever we are venturing out the vehicles are being stopped. We are initiating cases against those obstructing us. In the Kurseong incident, we are in the process of identifying specific people and we will initiate specific cases against them,” Singh said.
With one his party leaders having been targeted, ABGL president Madan Tamang alleged that the Morcha was behind the attack on orders of the state government. “The Morcha is now trying to threaten the common people under instructions from the state government as they are ready to settle for a council,” alleged Tamang.
The Morcha has denied its involvement in the violence. “We are trying to get a proper report on the incident. The public might have been agitated and various elements, too, might have taken advantage of the situation. Nevertheless, the party does not believe in violence and we strongly condemn such acts,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, a Morcha spokesperson.
Kismat Chhetri, president of the party student front, the Vidyarthi Morcha, too denied its members’ hand in the violence. “Anti-people forces might have taken advantage of the situation. However, we strongly protest the abusive language used by K.L. Tamta, inspector-general of police, north Bengal, and we are now determined not to let the officer enter the hills at any cost.”
In Siliguri, Tamta blamed the Kurseong police for not being able to protect the police station building and the vehicles. “The officers and the men present there should have prevented the attack and protected government property. I have asked the additional police superintendent to conduct an inquiry, extra forces are being sent to Kurseong,” Tamta said.
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TT, Feb. 18: The 24-hour general strike of the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha started early this morning with road blockades and 77 arrests from the outskirts of Siliguri. As a backlash, a mob in the hills set MLA Shanta Chhetri’s house on fire in Kurseong and burnt three vehicles.
Two Sikkim-registered vehicles were also attacked by a group of alleged Morcha supporters near Teesta Bazar on NH31A, 40km from Siliguri. “The windscreens of a Savari and a pick-up van were smashed by a group of men enforcing the Morcha-sponsored strike at 10.30am. The pick-up van was set on fire, but our men rushed to the spot and managed to douse the flames,” said a police source.
Around the same time, members of the Vidyarthi Morcha, the student wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, set up a blockade on NH55 at Panchnoi Bridge to protest the arrests. The blockade is still continuing.
“Since it is a 24-hour bandh, we will sit here throughout the night,” said Keshavraj Pokhral, the general secretary of the Vidyarthi Morcha, which had called the bandh after the administration had refused to give it permission to hold a public meeting in the plains.
The Morcha youth brigade set up the first blockade around 6.45am at Darjeeling More, the junction of NH55 and NH31 — highways leading to Darjeeling and the Dooars from Siliguri.
Pradhannagar police arrested 23 of the protesters from the spot and removed the blockade at 7.15am.
In nearby Salugara, on the outskirts of Siliguri, Bhaktinagar police picked up 54 Morcha supporters, who tried to close a market. All arrested persons were later released.
Some bandh supporters also threw stones at a Kharibari-bound bus at Matigara, injuring the driver and one of the passengers. Both were given first aid at Matigara block hospital and released, police sources said.
After the arrests, around 200 people blocked the road to Darjeeling at Panchnoi Bridge and did not allow any vehicles to ply between Siliguri and the hills. But they allowed the army vehicles, ambulances and some school vehicles to pass.
Around 100 personnel from Pradhannagar police station, district combat force and personnel of the Indian Reserve Battalion were deployed. Sandip Dutta, a deputy magistrate of Siliguri, visited the spot at 1pm and requested the bandh supporters to withdraw the blockade. However, they did not relent.
The inspector-general of police, north Bengal, K.L. Tamta, who was on his way to Kurseong, was prevented from proceeding beyond Panchnoi. The mob shouted slogans against him and the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government. “You should not attack police stations and burn vehicles, stop doing these things,” Tamta told the picketers before leaving the spot.
“Unless the district administration allows us to hold a meeting in Siliguri, we will continue our agitation… there is no question of withdrawing our blockade,” said Pokhral.
Deputy magistrate Dutta said he could do little. “All I can do is to convey their message to the higher authority and nothing else.” The rest of the region was largely unaffected by the strike called in areas that the Morcha wants as Gorkhaland. Thirty Vidyarthi Morcha supporters courted arrest at Bagrakote in Jalpaiguri district.
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| Gurung lights a lamp to pay respect to the slain jawans at the Mela Grounds in Kalimpong on Thursday. (Chinlop Fudong Lepcha) |
TT, Kalimpong, Feb. 18: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has demanded a CBI inquiry into the killings of the 24 EFR jawans — 19 of whom belonged to the hill communities — to get to the truth of the incident, which the party alleged could be the result of a conspiracy hatched against the Gorkhas by the state government.
Addressing a huge gathering of mourners at the Mela Grounds here today, Morcha president Bimal Gurung said the government must come out with the truth relating to the incident within seven days, or else, he would resort to his own course of action. Without specifying what sort of action he planned to take, Gurung warned: “We will not fall alone, we will take you down with us.”
The Morcha president also demanded the resignation of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. “If he doesn’t, there could be an inferno,” he warned. “How and why didn’t the intelligence agency relay the information (on the Maoists’ plan) in time? Who is responsible for this? The answers to all these will expose the anti-Gorkha policies of the Bengal government.”
Although the Maoist raid has given the Morcha a chance to stoke the statehood fire, not so long ago its leaders had shared the dais with those of the Maoist-backed People’s Committees Against Police Atrocities in Lalgarh.
The Morcha president also urged the Gorkhas serving in the army and police to lend their might to the cause of Gorkhaland. “You have always died for the motherland, but haven’t done so for the place where you live. You have fought enough for the country, but haven’t dedicated yourselves to your cause. Now it is time for you to come forward (for the cause of Gorkhaland),” he said.
Earlier, Gurung offered wreaths on the coffins carrying the bodies of slain EFR jawans Prem Tshering Lepcha of Sindebung and Damber Bahadur Chhetri of East Main Road. Their bodies along with that of Prem Tshering Bhutia of 18th Mile arrived here around 3.30am. While Bhutia’s body was taken to his home, the bodies of Lepcha and Chhetri were kept at the Mela Grounds for people to pay their last respects.
'Our sir' the first to flee: Constable
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| EFR constable Shishu Chhetri in Shilda. (Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya) |
TT, Shilda, Feb. 18: A constable has said Subedar Hastamukh Rai, the in-charge of the Shilda camp, was the first to “scale the wall” and flee when the Maoists launched the attack on Monday.
The anger of the policemen who survived the attack erupted today with many accusing Rai of being “callous” and not ensuring security.
Shishu Chhetri, an Eastern Frontier Rifles constable, said he had stepped out of the Shilda camp around five on Monday evening to have tea with colleague Mikan Tamang when the Maoists struck. “They recognised us even though we were in plain clothes and not carrying any weapons,” Shishu told The Telegraph.
“One of them approached Mikan and fired a bullet in his stomach, killing him. He then pointed the revolver at me but I pushed him down and ran away. I returned only when the joint forces reached the camp later that night. One thought that crossed my mind while I was running was that had our sir (subedar Rai) listened to us and put more security in place, perhaps this attack could have been averted.”
Another EFR constable, Amiya Tamang, who was inside the camp when the firing started, said Rai was the first to escape.
“Our boss was on leave for a few days but was present at the camp,” Amiya said.
“Though he was on leave, he did what he normally does when he is on duty: sleep and relax and complain about us. When the Maoists attacked our camp, the first person to flee was our sir. I saw him rushing to the back of the camp, scaling the wall and escaping. So what if he was on leave? He could have picked up a gun and fought. He should have led from the front instead of running away like a coward. I also ran away after I saw him escape.”
Some constables at the EFR camp said they had repeatedly told Rai to put up bunkers and a small tower for a radio transmitter like most other camps but Rai had taken no action.
Bhim Raj, another constable who survived the attack, said: “We had told Rai many times that the security set-up at the camp was not adequate. We had asked him to speak to his seniors about the lack of sandbag bunkers at the two entry points but to no avail.”
Shishu said Rai returned to the camp only after the joint forces reached the spot. However, he alleged that Rai did not bother to find out about the plight of his juniors. He did not even go inside the camp to inspect the damage.
Amiya said: “I asked him how he was and what would be our line of action but he did not reply.”
The inspector-in-charge of Binpur police station, Zulfiquar Ali Mollah, to whom Rai reports, said the subedar often kept him in the dark about the happenings at the camp.
Mollah, however, admitted a lapse on his part, saying he had information about a Maoist “build-up” near Shilda but did not act because there was no information of any attack on the camp.
Mollah said Rai’s conduct was being probed.
Rai could not be contacted as he was at the EFR headquarters in Salua.
Some police officers said Rai’s seniors should also share the blame for not carrying out checks at the camp to ascertain if all security measures were in place.
“It is the job of the senior officers to check the lapses on the part of their subordinates,” an officer said. “Rai may have been lax but it was the job of his seniors to detect that.”
Mollah said he had not taken any action as intelligence inputs came on a “routine basis”. “Everyday, we receive such inputs, so it is not possible for us to verify each and every such report.”
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