Khukuris silence guns Cops toe govt peace line -Cops toe govt peace line

May 21: As many as 10 armed policemen were on duty, but not a single shot was fired save the two by Madan Tamang’s personal security officer when over a hundred alleged Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters overran the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League’s meeting venue this morning.

Senior police officers said the force — 40 personnel — posted at Clubside motor stand was enough to tackle the mob that had descended since the alleged Morcha supporters were armed only with khukuris and not the firepower the personnel had.

Inspector-general of police, north Bengal, K.L. Tamta said “Morcha supporters” had “dodged” the police to reach Tamang.

“Permission to hold the meeting had been given to the ABGL as we thought there won’t be any deterioration of law and order in the presence of the governor, who is in Darjeeling,” Tamta said.

“It is unfortunate that the incident happened when our men were present there along with an inspector-in-charge. The police tried to stop them but they failed to do so as Morcha supporters dodged them and reached Tamang,” he added.

He did not respond when asked why the police failed to make any credible effort to stop them. “We admit that it is necessary to reinstate the rule of law in the hills and for this we will work in accordance with the state government’s instructions,” he said.

In private, senior officers said the police had failed to save Tamang for two reasons. First, they had failed to anticipate the attack and were relaxed. Second, conditioned by repeatedly being told by their superiors not to take any action that would further “inflame” the situation, they thought that no matter what the provocation, they would have to simply stand by.

“The police should have anticipated the attack as Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had warned his political adversaries that ‘people’, meaning his supporters, would not tolerate any political activity other than that by his party,” an officer said.

He added that given the situation in the hills, it would have been a surprise if attacks on Morcha opponents did not take place. However, several officers said the “ultimate blame” must lie with the government, which let the Morcha do whatever it felt like because Writers’ Buildings was scared of “provoking” the situation.

“There have been several instances of violence in the hills where the police stood by doing nothing,” an officer said. “They did so because it is the government’s policy not to get into a confrontation with the Morcha, letting its supporters get away with murder. The rule of law here has collapsed because of the state.”