Shutdown in India's famous Darjeeling region

Jun 10, 2008, 14:21 GMT

New Delhi - Business came to standstill Tuesday and scores of tourists were stranded after a regional party called an indefinite shutdown in India's eastern Darjeeling demanding a separate state within India for the Gorkha people.

The strike call by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gorkha People's Liberation Front) met with a good response as most of the shops, markets and business establishments remained closed.

Hundreds of tourists had started leaving Darjeeling Monday after the GJM announced plans to shut down. But officials estimated that 10,000 tourists including dozens of foreign tourists, were stranded in the nearby Siliguri city in the plains.

Since early Tuesday, GJM activists had started blocking highways in the region linking Darjeeling to other districts in the eastern state of West Bengal.

Some outbreaks of violence were reported from the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district and at least 350 GJM supporters were arrested after clashes with the local people and police, PTI news agency reported.

Some people were injured when a 1,000-strong mob blocked the road in one of the towns and forcibly downed shutters of shops.

Gorkhas are ethnic Nepalis who have long demanded a separate state called 'Gorkhaland' be carved out of the eastern state of West Bengal.

The original Gorkhaland insurgency in 1980s claimed more than 1,200 lives ended after Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy.

But the GJM has raised demands for a separate state, which has been rejected by the ruling left-wing government in West Bengal.

GJM chief Bimal Gurung insisted on the demands saying that he would lift the shutdown only if the federal government called for talks.

'We will only lift the strike, if the centre calls us for statehood talks. We are not ready to discuss any other issue. We are not averse to having the state government at the talks,' Gurung said.

'Tripartite or bipartite talks are possible only if they give up their demand for a separate state. Until then no talks are possible,' West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told reporters.