Gorkhaland issue linked with Maoists, bilateral ties may suffer

Telegraphnepal: India’s West Bengal based Intelligence Branch has come with an interesting story linking the New Delhi nurtured Nepal’s Maoists with the ongoing Gorkhaland campaigners.

Whereas the Nepali media has been carrying regular updates on state atrocities against the Gorkhaland activists demanding separation from the state of West Bengal, Indian media has been totally silent on the issue.

Democratic media?
The then terrorist declared Maoist leaders from Nepal who were residing in New Delhi had reached an agreement with the Indian establishment in June 2002.

The agreement had it that the so-called people’s war would in no way be detrimental to the Indian interests in Nepal and in turn India will support the rebel Maoists to grab power in Nepal.

No surprise 
Nepal’s Maoists who were in fact the brain child of the New Delhi regime is now being used to fight against the state government in West Bengal.

As you sow, so shall you reap.

The Chief Minister of West Bengal Smt. Mamta Banerjee has been blaming the center government led by Sonia Congress for agitation in the hills.

Nonetheless, the intelligence report claims that Nepal’s Maoists are not only extending financial help to the agitators but are also supplying arms and ammunitions.

Could be the ones which they had received from Delhi once upon a time.

“The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is assuring demonstrators of providing them with rations and financial help. We have already come to know that the agitators enjoy the support of Maoists in Nepal. We suspect the rebels in the neighboring country are supplying arms and ammunition and extending financial help,” reports quote an intelligence officer as saying.

Indian intelligence agencies have the habit of blaming the neighbors when the state forces fail to contain their internal situation, claim observers and add, time permitting they might come with stories linking Gorkhaland agitation with Chinese PLA or Pakistan’s ISI. The likelihood remains.

In the meantime, about 20,000 retired Gorkha soldiers and officers have vowed to return their medals to the President as mark of protest against the discrimination meted to the Gorkhas on 15th August.

Nepal-India relation may take a grand slide soon if not handled with care. (source: http://www.telegraphnepal.com/headline/2013-08-13/nepal:-gorkhaland-issue-linked-with-maoists-bilateral-ties-may-suffer )

KalimNews: Maoists had once declared their support to the Gorkhaland movement in 2011. The following are the news report published in 2011 just after the Shibsu killings.
PTI , Kolkata, Feb. 22, 2011: Extending support to the people of Darjeeling hills for their demand for Gorkhaland, a Maoist leader today said the state government and the Centre should withdraw forces or else the movement will be more dangerous.
In a press statement issued by Maoists, Bikram, Maoist spokesperson in charge of Purulia, said “the demand of the people of the hills like that of Junglemahal is justified and the government should provide them a separate state.”
“The people of the hills have a different culture. If they are given a separate state, then that will help to maintain good relations with the people West Bengal,” Bikram said.
“The government is using bullets, police, central forces and muscle power to throttle the voice of the people,” the statement charged.
“CPI-M has become puppet in the hands of capitalists and imperialists”, it alleged. 

Dousing the Gorkha fire won't be easy

Anirban Roy   |   MAIL TODAY  |   February 14, 2011: Nestled in the lap of the eastern Himalayas, with the radiant Mount Kanchenjunga towering over the blue sky, Darjeeling is fondly called the " Queen of the Hills", as it provides a perfect gateway for tourists seeking to be in the vicinity of nature.

Darjeeling's attraction primarily comprises of six Ts - tea, teak, tourism, toy train, tiger hill and trekkers paradise. Every year hundreds of thousands of tourists, both foreign and domestic, flock to the picturesque hill station for a memorable vacation. Unfortunately, the peace in Darjeeling has been disturbed.

The local Gorkhas, known across the globe for their hospitality, simplicity and honesty, have suddenly turned hostile against New Delhi.

Under the banner of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), they have launched a massive movement for the creation of Gorkhaland.

Several thousand tourists are trapped in different locations in the Darjeeling hills district as the GJM have called for an indefinite bandh in protest against the killing of three of its members in police firing on last Tuesday at Sibchu in Jalpaiguri district. The GJM accuses the Left Front government of neglect and under development, and the leadership is determined that they would now not compromise on anything short of a state for the Gorkhas.

In protest against the killing of the three GJM members, an angry mob went on a rampage for almost 24 hours, torching government buildings, vehicles and police out- posts in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts.

Echoing the GJM, the Trinamool Congress is also all out to blame the ruling Left Front for the crisis in Darjeeling. The BJP too supports the demand for Gorkhaland and senior party leader and Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh held a closed- door meeting with home minister P. Chidambaram to douse the tension in Queen of Hills.

Not to be left behind, the Maoists on Wednesday issued a statement supporting the creation of a Gorkhaland state, and lambasted the Left Front government for killing the three GJM supporters. It also called for a 24- hour bandh of Jangalmahal areas on Friday in protest against the killings. But Maoist support has made the ethnic issue murkier.

The state intelligence agencies were quick to " link" the GJM with the Maoists, and claimed that the Gorkhaland demand was being supported militarily by the communist insurgents. So far, there were no reports of any link between the two. Rather, the Maoists ( in Nepal), such as the " Nepali nationalists", have always claimed that historically, Darjeeling and Sikkim were never parts of India, and should be returned to Nepal.

In 1816, Nepal had to lose large territory, including Sikkim and Darjeeling after signing the Sugauli Treaty with the East India Company. Till the beginning of the 19th century, Darjeeling was a part of Nepaloccupied Sikkim, and the territory of the king of Nepal was up to the Teesta river in the east and the western border was Kangra across the Satluj river.

INTERESTINGLY, in 1835, the king of Sikkim was forced to cede the town of Darjeeling to the British on the condition that a compensation of ` 35,000 would be paid to him.

Now, the Nepali intellectuals allege that British hoodwinked Nepal in terms of giving back its lost territory when it left India in 1947. Some claim that the Sugauli Treaty became null and void as per Article 8 of the Indo- Nepal Friendship Treaty of 1950.

As the Maoists suddenly decided to extend support to the Gorkhaland movement, it has become obvious that they are now all out to fish in the troubled waters of Darjeeling, and put New Delhi under pressure.

Interestingly, the Nepali Maoists - the Unified Communist Party of Nepal ( Maoist), so far, have not made any statement in support of the Gorkhaland movement, making it clear that it still supports the cause of " greater Nepal". Intelligence agencies claim that the Maoists tactics is aimed at finding a foothold in the Darjeeling hills, and to make the statehood demand a more complicated issue for New Delhi.

So far, the Maoists have extended support to several separatist movements by ethnic groups in the northeast. There are reports that the insurgents have a close operational and ideological understanding with the ULFA of Assam and PLA of Manipur. In the past, they had shown solidarity towards separatism in Kashmir, and demanded withdrawal of military and paramilitary forces and that the Armed Forces Special Power Act be repealed.

Surprisingly, the Gorkhas in Darjeeling are not at all keen to be part of the " greater Nepal", and want to be part of India. The GJM is fighting for Gorkhaland as a state within the Indian union.

Caught between historical facts and the " greater Nepal" demand, Maoist support to the Gorkhaland movement has now made the movement in Darjeeling more intriguing. And, if the Maoists join hands with the GJM, New Delhi will again be caught in a crisis.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gorkhaland-dousing-the-gorkha-fire-wont-be-easy/1/129740.html