Army: Troops left Darjeeling four days ago

Kolkata: The Army on Wednesday informed that it had withdrawn its troops from Darjeeling four days ago, where the unrest has been there for the past three weeks with an indefinite shutdown called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Eastern Command spokesperson Wing Commander S.S.Birdi said, “The Army has been derequisitioned from Darjeeling and adjacent areas on June 24. The troops are not deployed in aid of civil administration any more.” On June 8 evening, two columns of Army troops were deployed in the Hills after the violence erupted during chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s first Cabinet meeting there.

Four more columns were deployed the next day, taking the total strength of deployment to six over the next two weeks. Meanwhile, violence continued in the Hills as two offices including, one of the GTA, were set on fire by angry GJM supporters in the early morning.

Several important documents are suspected to have been destroyed in the two incidents. The GTA office of its engineering division is located at Lalkuthi while the other, a panchayat office, is at Dhobitala in Bijonbari. Fire engines were pressed into service to douse the fire at both places.

No one was injured in the two incidents. In the morning, the GJM fielded the children of its supporters in a rally to mount pressure on the state government for their demand of Gorkhaland. Carrying placards, the children marched in the rally, which began from Chakbazar. While the infants were in traditional Gorkha dress, the boys walked bare-chested with the demand of a separate state written on their bodies.

The district administration has decided to extend the suspension of internet services in the Hills till July 4. Earlier, the suspension was effective till June 26. District magistrate Joyoshi Das Gupta issued a fresh order extending the suspension by eight days.