Bakloh (HP) Gorkhas throw weight behind Gorkhaland movement

Yudhvir Rana | TNN | Updated: Jul 9, 2017,AMRITSAR: Unrest over Gorkhaland movement in hills of Darjeeling resulting in killing of three persons in police firing on Saturday has evoked sharp criticism from tiny hill town of Bakloh, home town of 4 Gorkha Rifles , in Himachal Pradesh with local Gorkha population throwing their weight behind the agitators and justifying the demand of a separate state for Gorkha's to protect their identity.

While condemning the alleged police brutality on Gorkhas, president of Gorkha Sabha, Bakloh Vijay Gurung, told TOI on Sunday, "opening fire on agitators is totally unacceptable and is gross violation of human rights." He said Sabha had demanded immediate intervention of Central government to prevent the situation from turning bad to worse. "We stand firm like rock behind our fellow Gorkha brethren's in Darjeeling," he said.

Bakloh is a tiny hill village bordering Punjab's Pathankot district with a settlement of around four to five thousand Gorkhas.

"We are still identified as Nepalis in India whereas our forefathers died here as Indian nationals.. we want to be recognized as Indians and not Nepalis," a resident of Bakloh, Rajiv Gurung said, adding that with a separate state of Gorkhaland, people would recognize them as residents of an Indian state and not Nepalis.

Gorkha activist Jatinder Singh Rana, said that till now they were extending silent support to the Gorkhaland agitation but now they want their voice to be heard at international level for a separate Gorkhaland state. "Gorkhas have always been on forefront of saving nation from external aggression yet they face serious identity crisis in their own country and a separate Gorkhaland was the only answer to that," he said.