Ghisingh to head for The Hague

 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050618/asp/siliguri/story_4881921.asp

 

Darjeeling, June 17: Unbelievable, but true.

The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) today claimed that the party is doing its groundwork to drag the British government to the International Court of Justice.

During a public address here on June 9, Subash Ghisingh had threatened to take the British government to The Hague for having demarcated the hills without a referendum.

?They have played with our destiny by scribbling some lines here and there, while gulping down whisky and brandy,? Ghisingh had said earlier.

The GNLF chief had argued that since Darjeeling in the pre-Independence era belonged to erstwhile East Pakistan and later Bihar, it should be allowed either to join Bihar or handed over to Bangladesh as ?India has failed to mete out fair treatment to the hills?.

Though the matter was taken lightly by observers, the GNLF disclosure today has generated much enthusiasm.

After all, during the 1998 parliamentary elections, the GNLF had used ?The Hague-threat? to boycott the polls.

Ghisingh had then alleged that people from Nepal had filed a case at The Hague, claiming parts of India to be theirs.

Though the details of the reported case were never known and the issue fizzled out after the elections, the GNLF had used it to its advantage: The party?s boycott in the hills had helped the CPM candidate win the election. The ruling party in the state has been accused of having a tacit understanding with the GNLF.

The speculation regarding Ghisingh?s latest gimmick is that the GNLF will use it to defer elections till the end of the year.

Observers, however, are not sure of how it may work to the party?s advantage.

Deepak Gurung, the president of the GNLF Darjeeling Branch Committee today, said: ?Subash Ghisingh is personally involved in the preparations. I think a lawyer on international affairs is being consulted and some correspondence has already taken place.?

Earlier, Ghisingh had said: ?I think we need the permission of Kofi Anan (UN secretary general) to file the case and I am confident he will consider it.? Gurung, however, said the party has found out that ?such permissions were not required?.

?We are being forced to do such things (going to The Hague), as the Centre and state have not yet responded to our demands,? said Gurung.

Ghisingh has already put the state government in a spot by rejecting the draft prepared under Article 371(J). The GNLF chief wants the entire Darjeeling district to be give the Sixth Schedule status, something which is almost impossible because of technical difficulties involved, a fact, admitted by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee himself.

The GNLF is hoping that the Centre will invite Ghisingh for another round of talks for arriving at a decision on the ?alternative? to the council by the and of June.

 



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