CALCUTTA, AUG. 5, REUTER — Gurkha leader Subhas Ghising on Friday finally agreed to sign a peace accord ending a two year campaign for a separate Gurkha state that cost over 350 lives, official sources said.
Ghising, head of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), agreed in principle two weeks ago to accept a Gurkha council with wide autonomous powers to run the Darjeeling Hills where Nepali speaking Gurkhas had wanted a state within India.
But the signature of an accord was held up by a dispute between Ghising and the Marxist West Bengal State Government, which now rules the area, over the council’s territory.
West Bengal officials said Ghising on Friday agreed to West Bengal’s proposal on the issue and that the state’s cabinet would meet on August 14 to endorse the final accord, which should be signed two days later.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 12, 1988
