Kalimpong News A year after Lalgarh bond, Morcha mourns

Mob cries for statehood, gun salute

A policeman blows the bugle while paying respect to their dead colleagues at the Mallaguri police lines on Thursday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo TT, Feb. 17: The bodies of 13 slain Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans arrived at the police lines at Mallaguri near Siliguri at 10.35pm today in the middle of heavy sloganeering by over 500 people from the hills who demanded a gun salute for the securitymen mowed down by Maoists on Monday. It was 11.15pm when the long line of 11 police vans with the bodies, escorted by inspector general of police of north Bengal K.L. Tamta, left for the Darjeeling hills. In Mallaguri, shouts of “Jai Gorkha” and Jai Gorkhaland” rent the air as the coffins were brought down from the vans one by one. The death of 19 policemen from the hill communities in the Maoist raid has stoked the statehood fire although leaders of movement spearhead, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, had exactly a year ago shared the dais with Chhatradhar Mahato, the leader of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities. “The Gorkhas lay down their lives whenever Bengal is in trouble, but the Gorkhas’ plea for statehood remains unheard by the government,” party general secretary Roshan Giri said. He was waiting in Siliguri for the bodies with other Morcha leaders from 7pm. Policemen pay respect to the deceased EFR personnel at the Mallaguri police lines near Siliguri on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo While 13 bodies would be taken to the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, two bodies will be taken to Jalpaiguri. Police officers had been reasoning with the crowd that the gun salute could not be given after sunset and reminded the gathering that a gun salute had been accorded to the cops at Salua, West Midnapore, at the EFR headquarters yesterday. The crowd refused to listen and surrounded Darjeeling superintendent of police, D.P. Singh. The police, however, had reversed arms as a mark of respect for two bodies brought down earlier. Inspector-general Tamta said the officers in charge of the respective police stations have been told to escort the bodies to the dead policemen’s homes and to be there till the cremation. About the crowd demanding a gun salute, Tamta said: “We have paid our respects. It is a matter of sentiment for the hills, so many bodies reaching and there is also a movement going on.” Roshan Giri said the Morcha had called a strike in the area it wants as Gorkhaland on Friday and there would be condolence meetings for the fallen jawans throughout the Darjeeling hills, the Terai and the Dooars. Since early morning, hordes of Morcha leaders and supporters were seen leaving for Siliguri to receive the “15 martyrs from the hills”. Four of the 19 — although from the hill communities — were not residents of the hills. The Morcha has also faxed a letter to the chief minister and the Union home minister, demanding a full-fledged inquiry into the incident. “We want a full inquiry into the incident. Why were only jawans who had crossed the age of 40 posted in such a vulnerable area? The state government never provided them with adequate training and posted them ill-equipped at such an area,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the spokesperson for the Morcha. The Telegraph has learnt from intelligence sources that the 3rd Battalion of the EFR camping in West Midnapore had only two jawans — Dipen Chandra Kachari, 35, and Sunil Kachari, 31 — below 40 years. The rest of the 23 personnel (of the 3rd Battalion) were above 40. Suresh Rai, who was among the killed and a resident of Thurboo tea garden in Mirik, was 59 years old. “Does the government believe that they can counter the Maoists by sending 59 year olds to the battlefront,” argued Harka Bahadur. Of the 24 policemen killed, 14 were from the 3rd Battallion, while the rest from the 2nd Battalion. All the 10 killed were above 40 years old, except for Arjun Singh Thakuri, 33, a resident of Midnapore. “We are not concerned about compensations. The families of the deceased have already started talking about Gorkhaland as the only compensation and we have nothing much to add,” said Harka Bahadur. The Morcha is also planning to send a team to Salua which has a large Nepali population, on a fact-finding mission. “The date and the members (of the team) have not yet been finalised,” said Harka Bahadur. The ABGL had demanded the resignation of the chief minister. “President’s rule should be imposed in Bengal under Article 356. The Maoists are on the roll because the state government has politicised both the administration and the police,” said Madan Tamang, the president of the ABGL. The Morcha has decided to hold an all-faith meeting in Darjeeling on Friday. No place for tears, only pride The children of slain policeman Arjun Thakuri pay their last respects to their father. Picture by Samir Mondal Naresh Jana, TT, Salua, Feb. 17: A hand on her husbands’ coffin, a young widow today proclaimed victory against Maoist might. “They could not kill him from the front. They shot him like cowards, sneaking up from behind,” Parvati Thakuri said. Her husband Arjun took two bullets, one in the head and the other in his neck, and both entered from behind. Arjun, 37, was one of the three sentries on duty at the Shilda camp during Monday’s strike. He was one of only three policemen to have been in a position to hit back at the Maoists at the first chance when most of his colleagues were lounging around. “My husband went down fighting,” Parvati, 28, said, not a drop of tear in her eyes. “His colleagues told me he was the only one able to hit the Maoists. He had hit four of them.” As she spoke, her eight-year-old son Rupesh, a Class III student at Salua Kendriya Vidyalaya, sat next to her. Her daughter Ritika, 5, a Class I student of the same school, was sleeping in another room. “After I learnt of the attack in Shilda on Monday from TV, I tried to contact my husband and some of his colleagues. But I couldn’t get through. Even the EFR office in Salua could not confirm…Yesterday morning, Suraj Rai, who was with my husband at the camp, called up to say my husband was no more. But he also told me that he died a hero’s death, shooting from his AK-47 till he fell,” Parvati said. Arjun was at the camp’s gate with another sentry, Gopal Chhetri. “Gopal was the first to be shot,” Arjun’s nephew Suraj Mall quoted one of his uncle’s colleagues as saying. Parvati is proud of her husband. “So proud that I want my son to grow up and serve the police force like his father,” she said. However, she had request to the government — not to leave the forces sitting ducks in enemy territory. “I request the government to properly equip the force in high-risk zones like Shilda,” she said. Arjun was posted in Shilda six months ago. He was home at force headquarters Salua, about 75km from Shilda, on Saturday. “I was always tense about his posting in a Maoist-infested area and asked him always to be alert. Before he left home on Sunday, he had told me ‘Don’t worry, I’m always alert. Even if I am killed, I will not die until I have finished off a couple of them’. And that is exactly what he did,” said Parvati. Her sister’s husband, Chandra Bahadur Gurung, 35, an EFR cop posted in Salua, said Arjun was a master shooter. “Arjun told me that every bullet had the name of a traitor written on it and every bullet fired must hit the target.” Roadblock Nearly 500 relatives of EFR personnel blocked the road in front of the force headquarters in Salua for eight hours today, demanding that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee be present in person to assure them that the promises made by finance minister Asim Dasgupta will be implemented. Dasgupta had announced amid protests last evening that the government would provide Rs 15 lakh to the kin of each of those killed and a job to a member of each family. “In addition, their salaries will be paid to their families for the remaining years of their service,” he had said. The roadblock, which began at 10am, was lifted at 6pm. The protesters said they would return tomorrow morning with the same demand. In Calcutta, civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherjee, who had accompanied Dasgupta yesterday, alleged that there were slogans from the crowd in support of the Gorkhaland in the hills. Plains glare on dais bonhomie Roshan Giri (left) with Chhatradhar Mahato at the Lalgarh rally on February 18, 2009 TT, Siliguri, Feb. 17: The Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee and the CPM today attacked the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for its “hobnobbing” with Maoist leader Chhatradhar Mahato. “We condemn the attack organised by the Maoists on the EFR personnel in Shilda and mourn their deaths. But the Morcha is now using the issue brazenly to turn public support in its favour by calling a strike on February 19,” Bhasha Committee president Mukunda Majumdar said here. Referring to a public meeting of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, a suspected frontal organisation of the CPI(Maoist), on February 18 last year, Majumdar said the Morcha leadership had sent three of its top leaders including general secretary Roshan Giri to the rally in Lalgarh to express solidarity at the movement against the state government and police. “Now it is for the Morcha leaders to clarify its stand.” Urban development minister of the CPM Asok Bhattacharya spoke on similar lines. “We are deeply grieved over the massacre where people from our districts and region have lost their lives. However, it is time that the Morcha clear its stand as they have been hobnobbing with Mahato and his associates and had shared the dais with him just a year ago.” Bhattacharya, however, did not comment on the Morcha shutdown call. “Strikes are being announced in the hills on a regular basis and we will not comment on the strike on February 19,” he said. The three-member Morcha team — the other two were Binay Tamang and Samuel Gurung — had spoken at length at the Lalgarh meeting. “We support the movement against the CPM and the police,” Giri was quoted as saying. Morcha president Bimal Gurung had also addressed the gathering from Gorubathan through Giri’s cellphone. “Our movements are similar. We must be united in struggle. We are with you,” he had said. The Bhasha Committee leaders said they would oppose the strike tooth and nail. “We do not support the strike called by the Morcha and if they forcibly try to implement it, we will be on the streets,” Majumdar said. The Morcha has refuted the charges. “It is true that our leaders had been to Lalgarh but only to understand the problems of the tribal people there as we, too, have a substantial tribal population here in north Bengal, facing several socio-economic problems. We have been carrying out a non-violent movement and never went to Lalgarh to support violence,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the party’s spokesperson. 15 km from charred Silda camp is a nervous replica Ravik Bhattacharya, IE, Bakshi, Bankura: A police camp in the heart of a crowded village, a boundary wall barely five feet high, a bamboo fence the only protection in the rear, no bunkers at the back, a single toilet for 36 policemen, and tents to sleep in. The Silda camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles, overrun by Maoists who killed 24 personnel two days ago, has a replica just 15 km away where nervous EFR men are losing sleep, scared of a re-run. At Bakshi, on the Bankura-Midnapore border, the EFR men, all in their 40s, are angry and demoralised. The Silda attack has made them realise that they too are sitting ducks. And like Silda, their camp is ringed by houses with children running all over the place. The camp, located on the premises of a police outpost, has 28 personnel of the EFR and eight of the West Bengal police. The single-storey building has a makeshift watchtower on the roof which can only be reached with the help of a ladder. Sand bags make do for bunkers but with trees all around, the sentries can hardly get a clear view. There is no protection in the camp rear — the bamboo fence does not instil any sense of security. “I will lose my job if you name me... We still can’t believe what happened at Silda. I knew many who have died. There is fear here that the same thing may happen to us,” said one of the EFR men at Bakshi, located in an area the Maoists consider their turf. His colleague joined in: “If they come in hundreds as they did in Silda, we will not be able to retaliate. This is an open camp, people walk in day and night. There are so many people around the camp, so many residential houses. If we return fire, many innocents may get caught in the cross-fire. There are a few other camps like this in Jongolmahal.” Another EFR man said he had started worrying for his family ever since he heard of Silda. “I have not been home for more than six months. On Monday, my wife called as soon as she heard of the Silda attack. She wanted to know whether I was alright. If something happens to me, what will they do?” he said. * Bengal cops will now shoot to kill * At Salua quarters, tragedy breeds Gorkhaland demand * Governor keeps track of anti-Naxal operations * ‘It is difficult for Laxmi — they were inseparable’ * Govt to pay Rs 15 lakh to kin of slain personnel Irregularities in Autonomous Council of Assam PTI, Guwahati , Feb 17 Assam & main Opposition AGP today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in connection with the multi-crore rupees scandal involving the NorthCachar Autonomous Council. "The chief minister and seven of his top ministers are being accused by the media to be involved in the Rs 1,000 crore scandal of central funds meant for the autonomous council,"party president ChandraMohan Patowary told reporters here. Vowing to raise the matter in Parliament through the party MPs, Patowary alleged that the government managed to shield the report filed by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) after a probe and managed to drop the names of the senior ministers and a former governor. In the list, published by a national weekly, figure senior ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma, Rockybul Hussain and Gautam Roy. Contacted over the AGP charge, Gogoi denied any truth in the matter. "I am not supposed to comment on media reports. The NIA was given full cooperation by the government and till now they have not contacted me about any report," Gogoi said. Sarma and Hussain have also denied the charge. Inquiry on attack PTI, KOLKATA: Two days after 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel were killed by Maoists in West Bengal, the State government on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the incident.  Maoist mole in State Police? Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN, KOLKATA: Are there Maoist moles in the state police force? Else, how would one explain the sudden disappearance of two sub-inspectors from the Silda camp, barely half an hour before the Monday massacre? The two policemen as per rules had been permanently posted at the EFR camp for the past few months. Investigating authorities believe they could have been killed along with the 24 EFR jawans, but had a close shave as they had left the camp on the pretext of inspecting landmines at Silda college around 4.30 pm. Police are now probing their lucky escape. Ever since the abduction and release of Sankrail OC Atindranath Dutta, Writers' Buildings has been watching out for cops who share a "cordial relationship" with the guerrillas. Officials still can't figure out why Maoists should have spared Dutta even after brutally murdering his colleagues in the same police station on October 20. The two Silda sub-inspectors seemed to be aware of intelligence inputs regarding a possible attack which they might have come to know from some seniors. Home secretary Ardhendu Sen acknowledged as much on Wednesday, "There were lapses despite intelligence inputs. We are trying to fix responsibilities." With ample intelligence inputs available with the police about a probable Maoist attack at Silda ahead of the "Green Hunt", the two local policemen could have worked as sources for the guerrillas even going to the extent of providing them with information as to when the jawans would relax unarmed in between shifts. "The sequence of events of Monday looked perfect. It couldn't have been possible without any Maoist mole within the police," a home department official told TOI. The state police had known that the Silda attack was imminent. Since November 16 home secretary Ardhendu Sen and director-general of police Bhupinder Singh received six intelligence reports about the possibility of a "major attack" on the Silda camp and nearby areas. The latest one was sent on February 13, which had warned against "possible attack in the areas around Silda, Belpahari and Binpur in view of the kidnapping of a BDO of Jharkhand by CPI (Maoist) and its ally, PCPA". Another report specifically mentioned Jagari Baske visiting Silda college to spread oraganisation among students. The other four reports were sent on November 23, December 27, December 29 and January 14. Even as the bosses at Writers' Buildings at the behest of the chief minister met on Wednesday to find out why repeated intelligence inputs had been ignored, officials were also probing the "enemy within" angle, who have now turned into soft targets for giving out information about their security forces. On November 23, the state intelligence bureau had warned, "CPI (Maoist) leader Suchitra Mahato, along with others, is staying at Kamabandhi village. They may create major incident at the Silda camp." Another one, on January 14, said: "a team of 25 armed CPI (Maoist) activists have reportedly camped at Dumri under PS Binpur, at the south of Kanimouli jungle, 3 km east of Silda camp." The November 16 report was more telling: "Under leadership of Ashok and Bikash, and armed squad of CPI (Maoist) and Sido Kanhu Gana Militia were found at Bonkanta and Morkona villages under Binpur PS. The Maoists are planning to snatch away arms from police personnel and attack them at Silda, Barabari and Lalgarh in opportune moment." A report sent to Writers' Buildings on December 29 that said: "Sagar Baskey of Helakota, Durga Mandi of Mohanpur and Jagari Baske are visiting Silda college to spread their organisation..." Silda, Jagari Baske, People's Liberation Guerrilla Army which apparently led the attack on the EFR camp all find mention in the intelligence inputs. But Writers' Buildings chose not to react. Safe feigning to be dead TH, Shilda, Feb. 16: Two of the three injured Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel now in a Jhargram hospital escaped being killed yesterday because they lay still and the attackers took them for dead. Vinod Pradhan, 45, had gone to the tent housing the camp`s kitchen around 5pm for some food before going out on night patrol. Dambar (Chhetri) was supposed to come with me. But he was chatting to Gopal (Chhetri), who was on sentry duty, and asked me to go ahead, said Vinod, from Kurseong. However, the chapatis were not ready and he waited. Five minutes later, I heard an explosion and then the rat-a-tat of automatic fire. I rushed out of the kitchen to find petrol bombs and grenades being hurled inside the compound. I headed to my tent to get my rifle. I ducked as I ran and saw a tent on the far-end go up in flames, said Vinod. Entering his tent, Vinod found Dambar lying dead on his face, clutching his bullet-proof jacket. Vinod grabbed his Insas rifle and rushed out when either a bullet or a splinter tore through the flesh of his right arm. I fell with my rifle under me. I was drowned by the sound of firing and explosions. There were cries of pain and I realised that my colleagues were getting hit. Many tents were on fire and the area slowly lit up in a bright red glow. Guerrillas rushed into our tent  and they  stamped over me to pull the trunks and suitcases out into the compound. I lay still, Vinod said. After about 35 minutes, silence fell and he gathered enough courage to stand up. Vinod thought he was the only one alive. He scampered towards the edge of the compound, scaled a wall and hid himself on the other side. After about 20 more minutes, I heard someone groaning in pain. I peeped over the wall and saw Lalbahadur. I climbed back into the compound and went to the kitchen, which was untouched by the fire. I brought water for Lalbahadur. Then I saw Bishnu Chhetri, trying to sit up beside a burning tent. Bishnu, 42, a resident of Salua, said from his hospital bed that he was chatting in his tent with colleagues when he heard the staccato burst of gunfire. They were coming in hordes and firing all the time. Suraj (Bahadur Thapa) and Bihan (Kachari), who were with me, were riddled with bullets. Then I felt as if a burning coal has been pressed against my right leg. I fell and lay still, said Bishnu. When the tent beside me caught fire, I tried to sit up and found Vinod helping me, he added. Torn flesh was strewn around the camp compound this morning. Police teams were scanning the place for bodies, and bombs which the Maoists could have left behind.