Shutdown in hills to go on, GJM wants Gorkhaland issue raised in Parliament

Darjeeling, July 18 (IANS) The Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC) on Tuesday said the indefinite shutdown in the north Bengal hills will continue and urged their national alliance partners to raise the Gorkhaland issue in Parliament's ongoing monsoon session.

The committee that held its third meeting in Kalimpong since its inception last month, also condemned the alleged killing of a pro-Gorkhaland activist in Mirik in Darjeeling district in police firing.

"The shutdown will continue in the hills. The hunger strike will be initiated when the right time comes. GMCC condemns last night's Mirik violence," the committee said after Tuesday's meeting in Kalimpong.

Urging all pro-Gorkhaland parties in the Darjeeling hills to meet their allied national party MPs with the demand to raise the Gorkhaland issue in the current monsoon session of Parliament, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) said it had sent a seven-member delegation to Delhi.

"GJM, which is an alliance party of NDA, has sent its General Secretary Roshan Giri, study forum member Swaraj Thapa, central committee members R. Moktan and P.T. Ola, and Kurseong sub-division member Kishore Thapa," GJM chief Bimal Gurung said in a press release.

Pressing for inclusion of Terai and Dooars in north Bengal in the proposed state of Gorkhaland, the GJM leadership also included party leaders Shanker Adhikari, president of Siliguri sub-division and Jiwan Gurung from the Dooars region in the delegation.

Gurung also thanked the locals in the hills and Terai-Dooars for supporting the indefinite shutdown in the hills for the last 34 days and claimed their sacrifice for the cause of Gorkhaland would not go in vain.