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Below:
One of the posters at Dambar Chowk.
Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kalimpong, Sept. 6: A couple of posters calling for an armed struggle for a separate state of Gorkhaland have created a quite a stir here.

The posters were pasted on the side of a closed shop at Dambar Chowk last night by United Gorkha Revolutionary Army, which, the posters explained, is the newly-formed armed wing of the United Gorkha Revolutionary Front. The front is headed by Ajay Dahal, a former jawan of the Central Industrial Security Force, who is in his late twenties. After quitting the central para-military force, Dahal got into politics, and was associated with the GNLF(C) for some time.

The posters said with the formation of the new outfit, an armed struggle has been declared to realise the “100-year-old’’ demand of the “long-oppressed” Gorkhas for a separate state of Gorkhaland. The posters are believed to have been put up around 2 am, since the residents of Dambar Chowk heard a loud bang accompanied by a bout of sloganeering around that time.

The place is a stone’s throw from the local police station at Thanadara.

Intelligence sources said they were not unduly perturbed by the posters. “Dahal is not known to have a mass base, but we will still conduct an inquiry against him,” said an intelligence officer.

A few days ago, too, there were unconfirmed reports about some youths under Dahal indulging in “suspicious activities” (read arms training) in the remote village of Surook.

When The Telegraph tried to contact Dahal on his mobile today, he was not reachable.