GLA claims responsibility for five Darjeeling blasts

TNN, 7 September 2017, DARJEELING/KOLKATA: An explosion on Wednesday night and the appearance of a hand-written poster signed by the Gorkhaland Liberation Army, claiming responsibility for all the blasts that have rocked the Hills in the recent past, have greeted the open defiance of the indefinite shutdown by a section of Hills residents.

The poster with the heading, "Gorkhaland Birodhi Hoshiyar", is the first to claim responsibility for the five IED blasts in the Hills since the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha called for an indefinite shutdown in the Hills on June 12. The GLA, an insurgent outfit banned in 2013, is believed to have links with some northeast militant groups and has chosen to distance itself from the Hills political parties, claiming to be the only "true soldiers of Gorkhaland".

Wednesday night's blast happened near the Mirik PWD bungalow and the posters appeared in Mirik Bazar on Thursday morning. "The posters are hand-written. We are verifying them," additional director general (law and order) Anuj Sharma said.

The poster coincided with fresh raids by police to trace senior GJM leaders, including party president Bimal Gurung, at undisclosed locations, some outside Bengal's state borders. Gurung was moving around in a 30-km-radius circle from Paltebas and spending the day at the dense Singlila jungle close to Majhitar in Namchi, Sikkim, officials said.

Mirik, where the municipality is run by a Trinamool Congress board, has attempted to defy the bandh for the last three days. "The blast was engineered to instil fear in the people. But the people of Mirik were brave enough to defy the bandh and opened shops on Thursday as well," state tourism minister Gautam Deb said.

The poster, written in Nepali, read: "For our community and land, we are willing to go to any extent...whether to kill or be killed. We will not tolerate Bengal's oppression. The GLA is not a political party or organisation and we are not anti-nationals. We have come out because we are soldiers of Gorkhaland. We are responsible for the recent blasts in the Hills."

The outfit has also warned the GJM, the Gorkha National Liberation Front, the Jan Andolan Party and the Tinamool against betraying the statehood demand. "You (political parties) reaped benefits when you had the opportunity. And now you are working against the statehood cause when people are supporting the strike on an empty stomach. If tomorrow any leader betrays the Gorkhaland issue, then they should be ready to face the consequences," the poster added.

GJM president Bimal Gurung said his party had nothing to do with the GLA and asked for appropriate police action against the outfit. "Who they are and what they are doing is not my matter of concern. The law must take its course and police must act against them. I iterate that I believe in democratic agitation and will not allow a repeat of the 1986 agitation. I will continue with the democratic movement till I achieve Gorkhaland," he said.

The GNLF said no importance should be given to fake outfits like the GLA. "Such posters are the work of miscreants to derail the ongoing statehood movement. Our agitation must be democratic. We request investigating agencies to stop such activities," GNLF spokesperson Niraj Zimba said.

JAP president Harka Bahadur Chhetri alleged the hand of some political parties in the GLA poster, saying they had a vested interest to create unrest in the Hills. "The GLA is a fake organisation that does not have any credibility. I feel there is a hand of some political parties to disrupt the peaceful movement. The intention of the poster is to create an abnormal situation so that peace and normalcy are not restored in the Hills," he said.