Ex-jawans to rally for justice, turf

Kalimpong, April 2: The ex-servicemen’s wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will organise rallies in the Darjeeling hills and the foothills on April 9 to observe the fourth anniversary of a police lathicharge on its members in which nearly 10 persons were injured.

Ramesh Allay, the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Purva Sainik Ehwam Ardh-Sainik Morcha, said they would also demand the inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated mouzas from the Dooars and Terai in the hill set up.

The former jawans would carry black flags to protest the lathicharge on April 9, 2008. “Four years after the incident of brutal assault on our members, the government is yet to name and punish the guilty policemen. We will demand immediate release of the inquiry commission’s report,” Allay said here today. The commission was set up to inquire into the incident.

Policemen had lathicharged the ex-soldier’s rally in support of Gorkhaland near Siliguri.

“We want all the 398 mouzas in the Dooars and Terai to be included in the GTA (Gorkhaland Territorial Administration),” Allay said.

The ex-jawans would also demand that members of the Gorkhaland Personnel, the Morcha’s voluntary squad, be absorbed in the army, para-military and police forces. “The government must deliver on its promise of absorbing the GLP boys and girls,” Allay said.(Telegraph)