ASSAM: AAGSU to organise peace rallies across the State
Posted by barunroy on November 15, 2008
TEXTS AND IMAGES BY NANDA KIRATI DEWAN
GACDC Supremo Harkha Bahadur Chetri, Sr. Advisor AAGSU Bhaskar Dahal, AAGSU President Dil Bahadur Limboo addressing a media conference in Nepali Mandir Platan Bazar Guwahati. Photo by Nanda Kirati Dewan
The joint steering committee meeting of All Assam Gorkha Students’ Union (AAGSU) and Gorkha Autnomous Council Demand Committee- political wing of AAGSU has decided to organise a peace and protest rally state wide against growing terrorism in the state in particular and in the nation in general on 17th November 2008, Monday in all the district headquaters. At a press conference there after in its office premises in Nepali Mandir, Paltan Bazar Guwahati AAGSU President Dil Bahadur Limboo informed that the state has witnessed severe terrorism problems over the past few years the situation over the few months have been terrific and horrible. We vehemently condemn the recent Oct. 30 blasts and extend our condolences to the grief stricken family members of the victims. Terrorism in any form should not be tolerated added the AAGSU President. The octogenarian leader also condemned the recent killing of two Gorkha youths and injuring some others by a extremist group in NC Hills district of Assam on Nov. 10. It is act of cowardice to kill innocent peace loving Gorkhas demanded adequate compensation also high level inquiry into it.
GACDC Supremo Harkha Bahadur Chetri while answering a query highlighted recent ethnic clash in Darrang and BTC. The incident leading to hoisting of a Pakistani flag in this soil is threat to the sovereignty of the nation and it is very shameful that till date the state and central government have discriminately failed to probe it. Even the cause of turmoil in BTC is yet to be known. Both the BTC and state Govt. have failed in providing security to common. Notably many Gorkhas have also been affected in BTC due to communal riot.
Sr. Advisor AAGSU Bhaskar Dahal said Oct. 30 was a holy day for the Gorkhas as we all across the state and the globe were celebrating “Bhai Tika”-the festival followed by Diwali whereby brothers and sisters exchange love and gifts. In India some community celebrate it as Bhai Dhooja. The blast that day has shattered many such relations on such a holy day. The outcome of the blast is total intelligence failure. We were not in race to condemn the blast but however we went and the blast victims kith and kin. This rally on Monday is our solidarity to all peace loving people of the state and threat to anti social elements. Gorkhas are known to be peace loving and brave community across the globe and We here in Assam are also the same Gorkha.
The two Gorkha youth has been identified as Tanka Chettri and Dipak Chettri were victims of the random firing by a militant group Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) in short DHD(J) on 10 November at a Gorkhali settlement of Kamala Tea Estate in North Cachar Hills. The Karbianglong (K/A) district committee and NC Hills District unit of AAGSU have been instructed to register their protest against terrorism in the same rally. A 6 member delegation of K/A AAGSU led by its president Nitin Rai and Secretary incharge Sanjeev Limboo has visited the incident site and took not of the situation. GACDC Spokesperson Purna Chetri and AAGSU Secretary General Tharka Adhikary, were also present in the press conference and interacted with the mediapersons.
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Nanda Kirati Dewan is a Freelance Photo Journalist. He can be reached at +91-98640-77700 (M)Direct, 0361-2528326 (O); UB Photos’ Shiva Hotel Building, 2nd Floor ASTC Bye Lane, GS Road Ulubari Guwahati -6, Assam; INDIA.
UTTARBANGA JANA JAGARAN MANCH said
India-Bhutan rebel link ‘exposed’
Calcutta \ BBC News: Separatist rebels from India’s north-eastern state of Assam have developed links with dissidents from Bhutan, Indian officials have told the BBC.
The Assam police are questioning a Bhutanese dissident leader for his alleged involvement in October’s blasts in Assam that killed 84 people.
Tenzing Zangpo belongs to the Druk National Congress that is opposed to Bhutan’s ruling regime.
Police say he has spoken of “close links” with rebels in Assam. Investigators told the BBC that Mr Zangpo said his group also had links with the fledgling Maoist movement in Bhutan.
“India and Bhutan together want to destroy us, so we have to come closer for survival,” senior Assam police officials quoted Mr Zangpo as telling them.
For more than a decade, Bhutanese dissident groups, specially those representing the Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin, have tried to secure Indian support for their plans to march back to the kingdom through Indian territory.
But as Delhi used tough police action to prevent the marches, the Bhutanese dissidents turned to India’s enemies, Mr Zangpo is said to have told the Assam police.
The separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)- the former fighting for Assam’s independence and the latter for an independent homeland for Bodo tribes people – had more than 30 bases in southern Bhutan.
The bases were demolished by Bhutan’s royal army during an operation in December 2004.
“Until then, the Assam separatists kept a safe distance from the Bhutanese dissident groups, who campaigned in India against the royal government’s human rights abuses. But the equations changed after the Bhutanese military action,” Mr Zangpo said, according to the Assam police.
Police say he told them that the NDFB and the Ulfa train the Bhutanese Maoists and the Druk National Congress activists in bomb-making.
He is also reported to have said that the Druk National Congress had set up some bases together with the Assam separatists in southern Bhutan again.
Southern Bhutan has been rocked by a spate of low-intensity explosions in recent months. Several people have died in these explosions.
The Bhutanese Maoist party is made up mostly of “Bhupalis” (Nepali-speaking Bhutanese) who were chased away from the kingdom in the early 1990s.
They received initial training from the Nepali Maoists before the latter decided to return to parliamentary politics by giving up their armed movement.
“But now they depend on the Assam separatists for training in weapons and especially in bomb making,” Assam police say Mr Zangpo said.
According to police accounts of the questioning of Mr Zangpo, he also said Assam separatist groups had been bringing in explosives from Bangladesh through India’s thin “north Bengal corridor” and stocking them up in the clandestine bases in southern Bhutan.
“The bombs that devastated Assam on 30 October were assembled in these small south Bhutan bases and brought into Assam across an open border,” Mr Zangpo told the police after his arrest in Assam, they say.
They were stray intelligence reports about the Assam separatists reviving their bases in recent months.
But neither India’s federal government nor the state government of Assam paid much heed to them.
“A complacency had developed. Nobody believed south Bhutan could be used again by these rebels after such a comprehensive military operation in 2004. But one must realise that was a long time back,” said a senior Assam police official.
Hackman said
Fantastic news! UBJJM
Nimesh Nepali said
Of course Fantastic… not your comments, but the News of Gorkha of ASSAM posted by Mr. N K Dewan. Now it’s time for us to unite and show our presence…….. we should show, who we really are.. we are not the migrants but we are “Son of the soil” of Assam. We have been living here for centuries. Now we do have RIGHT to demand Gorkha Autonomous Council. GACDC, AAGSU,AANSU, and other Gorkha/Nepali organization must unite and should Fight for the RIGHT.
Vishwo ka Nepali/Gorkha yek hau.
Jaya Gorkha, Jaya Gorkhaland.
JTM said
If yiu cannot rememeber please do not misquote people. Otherwise I will have to leave this blog. What I said was Prashant, our Indian Idol 3, was voted for from several foreign countries including Nepal. As you know the Indian Idol show has worldwide TRP. Many non-Gorkhas also voted for him because they also found him very endearing, simple and humble. Talent of course everybody had. But as the show progresses, the audience start liking a or B or C. Just like the girls were all for Amit Paul’s romantic image. But families liked Prashant. Also for the humility and regard he showed for the WB police force and his boss. India loved him when they showed the barracks where he stayed and his police collegues and police band.
If some Nepali citizens (you know they are legally allowed in India) felt proud that a Nepali speaking boy won and raised their flags, what is wrong with that.
Indians abroad even if they are Americans, celebrate India Day parade with Indian flags, Bollywood stars and Indian celebrities. Nobody finds anything unpatriotic about that.
As for loving Nepal or Afghanistan, there is no such thing that as an Indian I cannot say ‘Oh I love Italy’ “Oh I love Switzerland’”Oh I love Kathmandu’ There is nothing political about it. If I wear a button saying I love New York, it will be highly idiotic of you to get upset about it.
If people start reacting on these issues, than India is definitely going the the fundamentalistic, racist way and Hope not, because of the hundreds of languages and cultures and relgions we have here everybody will be at each others throat.
There are a lot of Indians who say ‘I hate this country’. The govt officials are corrupt. the police are corrupt. the hspitals are bad. The roads are dirty. There is so much pollution.
SO?
KIndly refrain from getting too JUDGEMENTAL ON PEOPLE especially where nationality is concerned.
At the end of the day it one whole planet earth, that mankind has divided. It is easier to reach the moon than cross any international border.
You can disagree wth me but kindly do not misquote or misjudge me or like i said I will leave this blog. It might make you and others very happy but I am not interested in hobnobbing with people with narrow biased prejudiced twisted mentalities. People like yu remind me of the taliban who blew up Buddha’s statue in Bamiyan because it was not acceptable to them.
Nimesh Nepali said
MMM,
I agree with you–
“if a community is discriminated than the community should unite and raise their voice by all kinds of rational democratic means. Every Indians should and must have equally rights in India”.
Then, why r u against us??? since we r being discriminated, we r just trying to unite and asking for our RIGHT.
And one, thing…..Don’t try to make big issue about raising Nepal flag….. they were Nepalese….. there is no comparison between Nepal and Pakistan. It’s a fact that Darjeeling, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and some parts of Bihar and UP once were part of a country called Nepal.
Vishwo ka Nepali/Gorkha yek hau.
Jaya Gorkha/Nepali, Jaya Gorkhaland.
RAJA said
Nimesh ji,
Southern part of nepal also was a part of India once upon a time …ruled by chola kings of southern India….Should all madhesis stay there flur Indian flag?? we have seen what’s the reaction when Nepal president took oath in hindi…so plz dont be biased.
UTTARBANGA JANA JAGARAN MANCH said
According to available information, the Maoists of Nepal have well-established linkages with Indian left-wing extremist organizations, primarily with the People’s War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). The first signs of contacts were reportedly registered during 1989-1990, when the two groups started collaborating in order to expand their influence. Towards this end, they began the process of laying a corridor, which is now widely referred to as the Revolutionary Corridor (RC) extending from Nepal to across six Indian States, including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. This entire area has been identified in Maoist literature as the Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ). The CRZ was organized by the Nepal and Indian members of the Naxalite (the popular term for left-wing extremism in India- the movement originated in Naxalbari [hence the term Naxal] in the State of West Bengal in the late 1960s) Movement, in a meeting at Siliguri in the Indian State of West Bengal during August 2001.
Gradually, the interaction between Maoist insurgents and the PWG increased with the sharing of knowledge about guerilla warfare, bomb manufacturing techniques and arms training. Nepalese Maoists had sent their delegates to the March 2001 Congress of PWG held at Abuz Marh in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The establishment of CRZ gave a wider space and platform for all the proscribed Nepal and Indian left-wing extremist organizations to strengthen their bases in both the countries.
The more radical forces in South Asia, including both the PWG and Nepalese Maoists, are members of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). In July 2001, about 10 extreme Left Wing (Maoist) groups in South Asia formed the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organization of South Asia (CCOMPOSA), in which the Nepalese Maoists, PWG, MCC, Purbo Banglar Movement (Bangladesh), Communist Party of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and other Indian left-wing extremist parties became members. The appearance of graffiti in remote villages in Naxalite-strongholds, in Rayakal and Mallapur mandals (administrative unit) of Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, hailing CCOMPOSA points the spread of the idea of a common front of left-wing extremist groups in South Asia. Moreover, the Central Committee of the Maoists, in late-January 2002, passed a resolution stating that it would work together with the PWG and the MCC in fighting the ban imposed on the latter two organisations in India, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. A year earlier, in 2001, the Maoists had sent a senior leader named Gaurav as a fraternal delegate to attend the 9th Congress of the PWG. Reports indicate that the Maoists and the PWG have also formed the Indo-Nepal Border Region Committee to coordinate their activities in North Bihar and along the India-Nepal border.
For quite some time, the Maoists have also been working closely with the MCC for unification, consolidation and expansion of Maoist movement in India and across South Asia. A careful examination of expansion of Naxalite activity in Bihar in the last two years would reveal that the growing linkages between the MCC and the Nepali Maoists are part of their larger strategy to create a ‘Compact Revolutionary Zone’ stretching across Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar to Nepal. The porous Bihar-Nepal border, the general breakdown of rule of law, poor governance and incapacity of the police force provides a context for these left extremist groups to operate with ease.
In February 1996, the MCC Central Committee had reportedly published a paper welcoming the Maoist movement in Nepal. Reports of April 2000 indicated that the MCC and Maoists were holding joint training camps in Hazaribagh and Aurangabad. In September 2000, MCC leader Pramod Mishra is alleged to have visited Nepal for extensive discussions with Maoist leaders. In December 2001, the MCC and the PWG, in their joint meetings, held in the Jharkhand forests, resolved to support the Maoist insurgents in Nepal. In the same year, the MCC, PWG and Maoists formed an “Indo Nepal Border Regional Committee” to coordinate their activities in the border areas.
The porous Bihar-Nepal border is easily permeable. Bihar has eight districts and 54 police stations situated on the border. In the recent past, the Bihar police have arrested a number of Nepalese Maoists in the border districts of West and East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Madhubani. Taking advantage of a general breakdown of law and order, the Nepalese Maoists have reportedly set up bases at several places along the border. Reports indicate the existence of training camps in the forests of Bagha in the West Champaran district, which has emerged as a safe haven for the Nepalese insurgents. The Bihar police also suspect that some top leaders of the Nepalese Maoists, including Baburam Bhattarai, were/are hiding in Bihar.
Not much is known about the Maoist links with other militant or left-wing extremist groups operating in India, besides that they are linked to a few Naxalite groups through CCOMPOSA. Besides, a left-wing extremist group, the Communist Party of India––Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) Janashakthi, which has a marginal presence at least in six Indian States, but is very active in isolated and limited number of pockets in Andhra Pradesh, expressed support to the Maoists. It is a co-signatory, along with 41 other left-wing extremist groups ranging from South America to South East Asia, to resolution that ‘condemned and opposed the malpractice of the fascist state of Nepal’ and demanded ‘life security’ for imprisoned Maoist cadres, leaders and sympathisers.
The Maoists, with the help of Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), have been attempting to establish links with Naxalite groups such as the PWG and the MCC by using the Siliguri corridor in West Bengal. Media reports of December 29, 2002, indicated that three members of a Maoist-affiliate, All Nepal National Free Students’ Union-Revolutionary, were arrested at the Siliguri bus station, while on their way to Bihar to attend a meeting convened by the PWG.
The growing influence of Nepalese Maoists in other parts of India was unearthed after four of its cadres were arrested in West Bengal on February 26, 2003. The arrested Maoists confessed during interrogation of their plan to use West Bengal as a corridor between their areas of domination in India and Nepal. Darjeeling and Siliguri are the important transit routes. Also they are in a process of consolidating their presence in West Midnapore district, Bankura and Purulia especially in North Bengal with the help of Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO).
The substantial population of nearly eight million Nepali residents in India (primarily in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Siliguri, Shillong, Dehradun, Himachal Pradesh and Gorakpur-Lucknow belts) have established a countrywide organization called the Akhil Bharatiya Nepal Ekta Samaj (ABNES). It was banned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in July 2002 by the Government of India. ABNES was registered with the stated objective of securing unity among immigrant Nepalese residing in India and working for their welfare. However, it gradually became involved in subversive activities and began to function as a front for the Maoist insurgents of Nepal. It is also believed that the organization is working for the idea of a greater Nepal.
There is also some reportage about the Nepalese Maoists’ links with insurgent groups active in India’s North-east like United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), Gurkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and Gurkha Liberation Organisation (GLO).
Though the exact nature of the relationship is not known, the Maoists are also reported to have some links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. However, it is suspected that the Maoists have received arms training from the LTTE operatives in the past and this may be continuing. Links between these two may have been facilitated through the PWG, which has a record of co-operation with the LTTE in arms procurement and training (especially in the use of Improvised Explosive Devices). The arrest of Chandra Prakash Gajurel alias Gaurab, a member of the Maoist politburo, at Chennai airport in Tamil Nadu in August 2003 while trying to travel to Europe to lobby for a political solution to the seven-year-old insurgency in Nepal needs to be seen in this context.
Nimesh Nepali said
#10.Though most of the Madises in Nepal are Indian migrants who now have got citizensihp of Nepal. You can now say they are just like (but not exactly) Gorkha/Nepali in India. Here, you have to note that Gorkha/Nepali are not migrants and they have to become Indian by the treaty of Sughauli… they r here with their own land. But the people who raised Nepalese flag were Nepalese citizens,not the Indian citizens. why r u making big issue about it???????? I don’t wanna go to the history of Nepal, as I am concerned mainly to the Gorkhas of India, and Gorkhaland. And i don’t know at what time u r talking about ruling the souther part of Nepal…. The fact is that at that time there was no country called INDIA.
#11. I have always given preference to Indian Gorkha/Nepali. why do you forget that they are also Indian. and one thing, how can you say that I have given preference to Nepal???????
Vishwo ka Gorkha/Nepali yek hau.
Jaya Gorkha, Jaya Gorkhaland.
UTTARBANGA JANA JAGARAN MANCH said
REFUGEES HAVE HIGH BIRTH RATE
BHADRAPUR, July 19: The birth rate among the Bhutanese refugee population has been found to be double than that of the local people. About 80,000 Bhutanese including children have taken refuge in Nepal since 10 years ago. There are 101,283 Bhutanese refugees at Beldangi, Goldhap, Timai and Khudunabari of Jhapa district and Sanischare (Pathari) of Morang district. A report made public by head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) in Jhapa John Andrew states that 21 per cent of the total refugee population has been born in the camps. Among the total refugee population 44, 783 are women, 46,022 men and 10,487 children below the age of five. The Bhutanese seldom use family planning methods as they wish to get maximum relief and facilities.
In the year 2002, there were 112,263 Bhutanese refugees registered with the UNHCR (as per the above report). Approximately, 25,000 Bhutanese refugees were living outside of the UNHCR managed refugee camps in Nepal and India. Thus, there were a total of approximately 137,263 Bhutanese refugees living in the UNHCR managed camps in Nepal and outside of the refugees camps in Nepal and India in 2002.