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13 - Me, Myself and Mrityu

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Sabin and Biswas - A Beacon Online Release

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22 GJMM supporters arrested

Siliguri, Feb. 6: The police arrested 22 Gorkha Janamukti  Morcha (GJM) supporters from Bagdogra airport today as they were planning to wave the black flag at the GNLF supremo and the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council caretaker administrator, Subash Ghising. He left for Delhi today amidst political turbulence in the Darjeeling Hills. Talking to reporters at the Bagdogra airport, Ghising said that he was going to Delhi on an invitation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on home affairs to discuss the proposed Sixth Schedule status for the Darjeeling Hills. “I would meet the PSC members and its chairperson, Sushma Swaraj, tomorrow afternoon,”  Ghising said.

The GJM activists were arrested before Ghising entered the airport. The arrested GJM workers, which included the Tindharia unit chief convenor, Bimal Dorjee, were released on PR bond in the evening. The GJM has decided to launch a fast-unto-death stir in the Darjeeling Hills from tomorrow in protest against the cancellation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s Darjeeling visit and to press for the Gorkhaland demand.

Police Captures Miscreants!

Police Capture miscreants near New Super Market, Chowk Bazaar

Mehboob a local trader injured by the miscreants

Return Medals for Gorkhaland

Darjeeling, Feb. 6: Ex-servicemen from across the hills are likely to surrender all decorations that they have received from the Indian Army to press the demand for a separate state for the Gorkhas. [Inset: Stamp commemorating the services of Gorkha Soldiers]

Around 150 ex-servicemen representing different army units raised the proposal of surrendering the medals at a meeting in Darjeeling Gymkhana Club today. Bimal Gurung, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief, was also present in the meet organised by the former soldiers.

The Darjeeling hills are home to about 40,000 ex-servicemen and war widows.

“Our demand for a separate state has not yet been made. We will hold another meeting on February 13 and, in all likelihood, will endorse the proposal,” said Capt. (retired) S.P. Pradhan, the general secretary of the All India Ex-Serviceman Action Committee’s Bengal chapter.

On February 13, ex-servicemen from across the hills will take out a “silent rally” in Darjeeling. They will also finalise a date to visit Delhi to submit a memorandum to the Centre on the statehood issue.

Ghisingh off to Delhi

Siliguri, Feb. 6: Subash Ghisingh today left for Delhi to depose before the Standing Committee on Home affairs amid black flag protests.

Twenty-nine supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha were arrested for showing him black flags at Bagdogra Airport.

They were later released.

The parliamentary committee, which is currently scrutinizing the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2007 drafted to include the Darjeeling hills within the Sixth Schedule, has cancelled its three-day visit. Instead, the members have called Ghisingh for a hearing on the Sixth Schedule status.

Representatives of other hill parties had met the panel members earlier.

This is the first time that the GNLF chief — the main architect of the special status — will meet the members of the committee after the bill was referred to it by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Hijack verdict hits family- The ‘Helper’ & the wife

Kalimpong, Feb. 6: For the past eight years, Dilip Kumar Bhujel has been in jail for his role in facilitating the 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar. However, during that period, every time he spoke or wrote to his family he would promise to return soon.

A day after Bhujel and two others — Abdul Latif and Yusuf Nepali — were handed life terms by a Patiala special court for their complicity in the hijacking, his wife, Devaki, still believes in his innocence.

When this reporter caught up with Devaki in her two-storied mud house in the idyllic village of Sindebung, about 5km from here, the 30-something woman had just returned from the bi-weekly haat in Kalimpong, where she sells home-grown vegetables.

“I have to do this to feed our three school-going children,” she said.

Bhujel and Devaki have been married for nearly 20 years. Their eldest daughter, Dipika, is preparing for her higher secondary examination, while another daughter, Binita, will sit for her Class X exams this year. Son, Yogesh, studies in Class IX.

“Ever since we watched the news about his (Bhujel’s) sentence at our neighbour’s house yesterday, Dipika has been crying. The last time my husband spoke to her was some time in December. He had told her he would be back home by March,” said Devaki.

The children were not at home, but Devaki described Bhujel as a caring husband and dotting father.