Ex-member of GTA arrested

Lopsang Yolmo after the arrest

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Jan 18, 2018 Kalimpong: Former vice-chairman of the GTA Sabha and senior Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Lopsang Yolmo was arrested from near the Bengal-Bihar border early on Thursday in connection with an incident of arson at Jaldhaka during last year's unrest in the hills.

Yolmo, 54, was brought to Kalimpong and produced in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate, which remanded him in four days' police custody. The Morcha leader has been charged with arson, rioting and attempt to murder among others.

The Jaldhaka incident had occurred on June 17 at the start of the over three months-long renewed agitation for Gorkhaland when a mob torched police vehicles and the local police outpost. Yolmo was the GTA Sabha member of Today-Tangta constituency under which Jaldhaka falls.

The Morcha leader said he had no clue as to why he had been arrested. "I was returning from Delhi when the police arrested me on the Bengal-Bihar border. I don't know why I have been arrested. There were no cases pending against me," he told reporters.

Yolmo is the latest in the long-list of Morcha leaders and activists arrested in connection with various cases during the unrest.

All hill parties, barring the Binay Tamang faction of the Morcha, have accused the state government of carrying out a witch hunt in the hills and arresting even innocent citizens. "All democratic and constitutional rights of the people are being trampled on by the state government. People are being threatened and arrested for voicing their constitutional demand," Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the president of Jana Andolan Party (JAP), had recently alleged.

An observer has said there is a growing perception that the state government is using the might of the state to intimidate the supporters of the Bimal Gurung faction of the Morcha, and this, in the long run, could prove counter-productive.

"People are not ignorant of the fact that the state government is indulging Binay Tamang, who has a number of cases pending against him, only because he is doing its bidding. The government must tread very carefully and ensure no innocent person is harassed. Otherwise, it could prove counter-productive," said the observer.