News

Tripartite talks set for Sept 8, ‘08

Tripartite dialogue on 8 Sept
Statesman News Service

DARJEELING, Aug. 27: The state Home secretary has sent a letter to the GJMM for tripartite talks on the Gorkhaland issue in New Delhi on 8 September. “The letter from the state Home secretary Mr Ashok Mohan Chakrabarty, which reached us today, is addressed to the party president Mr Bimal Gurung. It states that the tripartite meeting will be convened on 8 September in New Delhi,” informed GJMM general secretary Mr Roshan Giri.

This development comes following a nine-member GJMM delegation’s meeting with the external affairs Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee regarding the agenda and date for a dialogue on the Gorkhaland issue. The GJMM had claimed the meeting was positive. While the Centre is apparently willing to talk on the Gorkhaland demand with the GJMM, the West Bengal government, which is the third party in the meeting, sticks to its stand against further fragmentation of Bengal. The GJMM president in turn had threatened to stage a walkout from the upcoming tripartite meetings if talks did not centre on their separate state demand. The party had even demanded that the talks be held at the political level than official level.

According to the GJMM leadership, the current letter does not specify conditions and states that talks would be held on “the Morcha demand.” “It is a positive sign from the government and we welcome it. The letter states that talks will revolve around the Morcha demand which obviously means Gorkhaland,” Mr Giri stated.

Welcoming the development, the state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya said that the state government and the chief minister had been advocating early talks on the subject. “It is a positive move and we should all respect it,” he added.

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3-way talks on hills on Sept. 8
www.telegraphindia.com

Darjeeling, Aug. 27: The Centre, the Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will hold tripartite talks on the hill party’s “demand” in New Delhi on September 8.

“We have received a letter written by Asok Mohan Chakrabarti, the state home secretary, and addressed to our party president (Bimal Gurung) inviting the Morcha for talks to be held in New Delhi on September 8,” Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said here today.

Asked about the agenda for the talks, Giri said: “The letter states that the meeting is on the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s demand and it is clear to everybody that our demand is Gorkhaland and nothing else.”

Gurung had earlier threatened to walk out of the proposed tripartite meeting if Gorkhaland did not figure in the discussions.

The discussion is most likely to be held at the secretarial level with top bureaucrats from the state and the Centre meeting the Morcha delegations. The Morcha, on the other hand, had been adamant that the tripartite talks should be held at the political level, as the issue of Gorkhaland was a political one.

Today, Giri, however, said the Morcha would attend the talks. “After all, the meeting was our demand and we will definitely attend the talks. In fact, we will hold a party meeting within a few days to discuss various aspects of the tripartite talks,” he added, without disclosing the date of the party meet.

The Morcha is expected to take an all-party delegation to the tripartite meeting as promised by Gurung earlier. “This stand of the Morcha has already been announced by the party president,” said Giri.

An all-party meeting is expected to follow the internal meeting of the Morcha. However, one prickly issue could be the Morcha’s strained relation with the CPRM, an important opposition outfit in Darjeeling.

Recently, the CPRM had openly criticised the Morcha for opposing its August 22 strike in the hills (called to demand speedy trial of Chattrey Subba, the prime accused in the assassination attempt on GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh in 2001). In a bid to smoothen ruffled feathers, the Morcha had quickly issued a statement that all issues between the two families could be amicably solved thorough a dialogue.

© 2008 The Gorkhaland Chronicle.