Archive for the ‘Geo-politics’ Category

The following report on the new political settlement in the hill areas of West Bengal comes from Daijiworld.com

By Pradipta Tapadar

Sukna (West Bengal), July 18 (IANS)Sukna (West Bengal), July 18 (IANS) An elated Roshan Gurung, 60, who runs a teashop, was Monday looking forward to peace, development and that crucial stamp of “identity” ahead of a historic tripartite agreement for the Darjeeling hills.

“We are very happy about the agreement. We suffer from identity crisis. I hope this treaty will bring peace and development in the hills,” said Gurung, a Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) supporter in Darjeeling district.

However, he and many others wished the demarcation of Gorkha majority areas in the Terai plains and Dooars region - which are also part of Darjeeling, besides the hills - had been carried out before the treaty was signed here between the GJM, the West Bengal government and New Delhi.

Gorkhas are the dominant ethnic community in the Darjeeling hills where a lot of people were euphoric Monday, hoping the treaty would solve their problems of unemployment, underdevelopment and poverty.

“We are happy because this treaty means more development and employment. There has been no basic teacher recruitment since 2000. We are unemployed even after receiving teacher’s training,” said B.M. Bariely, president of the Unemployed Trained Basic Teacher’s Association.

“We want better education for our children. This agreement is key to that dream. We don’t want tension in the hills. We want peace and a better future,” said Binod Rai.

At the core of the Darjeeling agreement is the formation of a new autonomous elected Hill Council Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), which is armed with more powers compared to its predecessor Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) formed in the late 1980s.

A nine-member high powered committee, comprising four members each from GJM and the state government and one from the central government, will be formed to study the GJM’s demand on demarcating Gorkha majority areas in the Terai (the plains of Darjeeling district) and Dooars (foothills covering parts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts) for inclusion in the council.

“What if they (state and central governments) don’t give us any area after the demarcation committee in case of a report against area demarcation? The treaty should have been signed after area demarcation was done,” said Sujan Rai, an ex-serviceman.

He took active part in the agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of Darjeeling and parts of neighbouring Jalpaiguri district.

The Darjeeling hills have periodically been on the boil for about three decades after the demand for Gorkhaland covering parts of northern Bengal gained momentum during the 1980s.

“We want nothing less than Gorkhaland. This treaty is a temporary solution. We want our own identity. We are not outsiders. We are Indians. Only a separate state will solve the problem,” said Ramesh Rai, a small-time businessman in the Darjeeling district hills that comprises the three sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.

But by and large there was a sense of hope. The GJM leadership seemed very happy.

“I am certain this agreement will have a positive impact in the region. The DGHC (Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council) had no functional powers but this body will fulfil the demand of greater autonomy to the region,” said Urmila Rumaba, core committee member of the GJM’s Nari Morcha.

The Gorkhaland movement took off under the leadership of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) supremo Subash Ghising. But the reins of the movement were taken over by the Bimal Gurung-led GJM, which forced Ghising out of the hills.

The three-decade long anti-government protests have witnessed killings, police crackdowns, long shutdowns which severely impacted the hill’ economic mainstays - tea, timber and tourism. The people are hoping this will be reversed.

“We want development of the hills, both in terms of the tourism business and tea gardens. We are happy that this agreement will usher in the long pending development of the hills,” said Romila Thapa, a resident of the area.

The strike called at the start of the year by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which blocked all traffic between Siliguri and Darjeeling and Kalimpong, was called off in mid-February. This was a relief for us, since our first volunteer of the year was unable to reach their school. We now have a volunteer in place in the Gyan Jyoti school outside Kalimpong, and we are hopeful that our programme can run without further disruption from now on.

One of our volunteers has had to abandon her teaching assignment in the village of Mungpoo because of a strike called by the Gorkha Jankukti Morcha which is campaigning for a separate Gorkhaland. She and her husband were bussed down from Darjeeling to Siliguri, at the foot of the Himalayas, by the police yesterday just before they were due to travel to Mungpoo.

The ‘India Blooms News Service’ reports the following

Darjeeling/Siliguri/Jalpaiguri, Feb 11 (IBNS) Life remained shut for the third consecutive day in the hills of Darjeeling on Friday while scarcity of essential commodities became acute as the indefinite strike, called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, continued.

Uncertainty continued to prevail in the three hill-subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong besides the Terai and Dooras in Jalpaiguri district of north Bengal over recurring clashes between pro-Gorkahnd and anti-Gorkhaland supporters and vandalising government property over the past three days.

The shutdown has been called protesting the February 8 police firing at Sipchu in Jalpaiguri in which two Morcha supporters were killed.

Transport movement to Sikkim and rest of the northeast continued to be affected.

The government has clamped prohibitory orders in several places of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts to prevent rival forces from organizing rallies.

The GJM has been attempting to organise rally in support of ‘Gorkhaland’ and highlight the police firing, while the tribals of the plains and Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee members are opposing division of West Bengal.

An anti-Gorkhaland march to the hills, ‘Darjeeling Chalo’, was prevented by police on Thursday by detaining about 150 participants at the Tenzing Norgay bus terminus in Siliguri.

Life has almost collapsed in the hills with no vehicles plying, government offices remaining shut, business coming to a halt and stocks of ration dwindling fast with no supply coming from the plains.

The silence prevailing in the area was occasionally broken by the screech of security vehicles as the Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force jawans intensified patrolling.

Schools along NH 55 between Siliguri and Sukna remained open today as the Morcha allowed students to travel only in school vehicles.

The GJM said said it would allow outstation students, appearing for board examinations, but the vehicles carrying them must have ‘on exam duty’ stickers pasted on them.

But inadequate logistical support make the school authorities doubtful about the exams being held successfully.

Several nationalised banks, which are the custodians of question papers, are shut due to the strike.

The institutions have requested boards to allow an exemption and permit the main exam centres in each area to keep the question papers.

The ISC practical exams in science subjects are scheduled to start on Monday and many outstation students have not been able to return to their schools because of the strike.

Around 500 students are expected to sit for the ISC practical exams.

Jalpaiguri district magistrate Bandana Yadav refused to give permission for a GJM rally, proposed to be taken towards Jaigon on Friday.

The administration would not give any permission to anyone for holding public meeting or a rally at this situation after Sipchu violence, she said.

Thousands of supporters of Nepal’s former Maoist rebels began gathering in Kathmandu  for a May Day protest rally to press for a return to power in what may herald a showdown with  the coalition government.

The Maoists say it will be the biggest demonstration since they quit the government last year. Supporters, many dressed in red, are housed in hundreds of schools and are being provided training on how to use sticks as well as martial arts.

The constituent assembly has until May 28 to agree the new constitution but the government may miss the deadline leaving a political vacuum.

Some analysts say the sticking point behind the stalemate was how to settle the future of more than 19,000 Maoist former fighters . The Maoists want them to join the security forces while the government refuses.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal,the Maoist prime minister, who was in charge of the interim government that is responsible for drafting a new constitution for Nepal, has resigned after some members of the coalition pulled out. He had called upon the chief of the army to resign for failing to integrate Maoist irregulars into the regular army, and this move has not only been strongly criticised by the non-Maoist parties, but the President refused to countenance the dismissal. It is too early to say what this means for the fragile peace process, but it is not a positive development.

The indefinite strike (bandh) in the Darjeeling hills, called by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha who are pressing for more autonomy, has been suspended pending the outcome of negotiations with the Government. The GNM have given a new deadline of 5th July.

At the request of the Maoist dominated Constituent Assembly, King Gyanendra and his family have left the royal palace and given up the trappings of kingship. He will live in Kathmandu as an ordinary tax-paying citizen. Nepal is now, for the first time in its history, a republic, and the palace will be turned into a museum. The ending of the monarchy, the only Hindu monarchy in the world, is largely unmourned.

The Nepali speaking districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, which belong to the Indian state of West Bengal, are currently being threatened with an indefinite strike (bandh) by the recently formed Gorkha Mukti Morcha party which has revived a long standing demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. The GMM has asked tourists to leave the district, and our volunteers have felt obliged to leave too. A previous campaign in the ’80s led to the setting up of the Gorkha Hill Council, with limited autonomy for the region. Although it is unlikely that they will achieve an independent state, a greater degree of autonomy is a possibility.