GJM climbs down; not to use force to enforce indefinite bandh

In a climbdown, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, spearheading an indefinite bandh in Darjeeling hills for the last 10 days to demand Gorkhaland state, today said it would not use force to enforce the shutdown but a 'janata curfew' would be held as announced from tomorrow.
Senior GJM leader Harka Bahadur Chetri said the bandh would remain suspended on Independence Day.
"There will be no use of force to enforce the bandh in deference to the Calcutta High Court order," GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri told reporters here.
He said the party's future strategy would be decided on August 16 at an "all-party" meeting.

The high court had directed West Bengal government to ensure normalcy and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Saturday declared the bandh illegal and given the GJM a 72-hour deadline to withdraw it.
GJM President Bimal Gurung threatened to call a 'janata curfew' if Banerjee did not withdraw her deadline.

He had said the 'janata curfew' (people policing the streets) would be in force on August 13-14 after the expiry of the deadline to call off the bandh.
A meeting was held during the day attended by BJP, All India Gorkha League and small parties in the hills and boycotted by ruling Trinamool Congress, Congress, CPI(M) and GNLF.

The GJM chief said "all the eight parties which support Gorkhaland will now be under one platform. There will be no opposition in the hills now."
The meeting agreed the hill council, Gorkha Territorial Administration, needed to be repealed at an appropriate time, Gurung said in a Facebook post.