Darjeeling: Tripartite meet on Oct 23: Union tells Morcha

Darjeeling, October 1, 2013

The Union Home Ministry yesterday communicated its decision to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) for holding a tripartite meeting on October 23.

“We received call from Home Ministry joint secretary Suresh Kumar today. He said the Home secretary has asked him to tell us that the date for tripartite meeting has been fixed on October 23,” said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri.

Giri did not comment further as more details of the meeting would be understood once an official letter from the Ministry is received by the Morcha.

The phone call had come after the meeting of Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee (GJAC), a coalition of political and apolitical organizations including the Morcha, ended at Singmari here.

GJM president Bimal Gurung posted his happiness in his official Facebook page. “I am happy to get a call from the Central government for tripartite talks on the long pending demand of the Gorkhas. The GJM believes that our demand can be solved with dialogue. We are also appealing the Centre to withdraw the Centre forces immediately (from Darjeeling hills)”, Gurung wrote.

A delegation of GJAC consisting of former and sitting MPs and MLAs had on September 3 called on Union Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde regarding the Gorkhaland demand.

The minister had requested the delegation to withdraw their ongoing agitation and to take part in a tripartite meeting with the Centre and West Bengal government. Following the requesting, the GJAC on September 11 suspended its bandh till October 20 after which future activities were to be announced.

“We have not decided anything yet about our future course. It will be fixed only once we receive the official letter from the government. We plan to hold a meeting of GJAC within a week or so,” said GJAC spokesperson Enos Das Pradhan.

(Courtesy: Sikkim Express)