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At Least 100 Gorkhas Arrested In Darjeeling, India
BBC NEWS, SOUTH ASIA
March 8, 2011: At least 100 people have been arrested after holding protests in India's tea-producing hill region of Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal. Those held are members of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) party campaigning for a separate state for Nepali-speaking Gorkhas in the region.
The GJM says thousands of its members have been arrested this year. Police say most are quickly released. Correspondents say that tensions are escalating ahead of state elections. The West Bengal government is still awaiting a response from Delhi to its call for more paramilitary troops to be deployed in the region ahead of the vote on 18 April. It has issued warrants for the arrests of 15 top Gorkha leaders.
The BBC's Uma Kanta Khanal on the border between Nepal and India says that the latest protests have mostly been peaceful. Last month demonstrations turned violent. The Gorkha campaign for a separate state started in the early 1980s but a settlement that gave them considerable autonomy brought the movement to an end in 1988. However, three years ago, the movement was resumed by Gorkha hardliners who believe the autonomy arrangement has not worked.
IANS has reported from Darjeeling that the protest in the Darjeeling hill areas has made adverse impact on the internationally renowned boarding schools there, with some considering shifting to safer areas or closing down altogether. The 50 major boarding schools in the three hill subdivisions of the Darjeeling district have about 15,000 students coming from the better-off families in various parts of India and foreign countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand and South Korea. These schools have been concerned with the recent spurt in violence including the death of three supporters of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) in police firing in the Shipchu area of Jalpaiguri district early February.
