Sikkim, Bengal spar over Gorkhaland
The dispute between Mamata Banerjee government and Pawan Chamling administration over Gorkhaland can turn into a full blown confrontation with Sikkim police slapping murder charges against the superintendent of police of Kalimpong district following the death of a 34-year old in Sikkim on Friday afternoon.
Dawa Bhutia, 34, who was a resident of Kalimpong, died when a team of policemen from Bengal opened fire at a place called Saddam near Namchi (the headquarters of South district).
The tension between the two states started on June 20 when Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling wrote to Union home minister Rajnath Singh expressing his support for the new state being demanded by the Gorkhas. Bengal government promptly opposed Chamling’s stance, calling it an unwelcome interference.
“We will register a case,” Pradhan said on Friday. The young man was the driver of Dawa Lepcha who was a member of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, the autonomous body set up to run the affairs of the hills.
“An innocent man has died. If the Bengal government has violated the law and entered a different state, we condemn it,” said Jan Andolan Party chief Harka Bahadur Chettri.
The policemen team, some of whom were in uniform and some in plain clothes, entered South district of the Himalayan to raid the spot in Majhitar where Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung was holding a central committee meeting. The Morcha president, who is on the run after being slapped UA(P)A sections, managed to escape. Majhitar is near Namchi, the headquarters of South district.
The confrontation between the police of the two states heightened on Friday when Sikkim Police refused the team from Bengal to take away six GJM members who were arrested by them.
“They could not produce any arrest warrant, or any other document. They have to take those arrested away on transit remand granted by a court. The team of Bengal police came into Sikkim territory without informing us,” said Pradhan. However, he did not reveal the identity of those arrested by Bengal police.