Melli: Members of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) were attacked by unidentified perpetrators on Sunday during a rally against the “immigrant” row in Melli, South Sikkim, the group claimed.
The JAC is a group of citizens who have been opposing the immigrant label given to the Sikkimese Nepalese recently by the Supreme Court of India. The committee has maintained that they are independent of political affiliations. However, some JAC members claimed that they were wrongly identified as being associated with a political party.
The JAC addressed the attack on Sunday’s rally.
“I was present when the incident occurred in Melli. At first, two individuals came and questioned us about the rally. Later, a group of people came and started beating one of our members. We later realized he was a JAC member,” said Duk Nath Nepal of the JAC.
The ongoing violence in Sikkim has been complicated by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party attacking each other, as well as burning effigies of Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay and former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling of the respective parties.
Kala Rai, the in-charge of JAC Nari and a member of the SKM party as well as a councillor under the Gangtok Municipal Corporation, spoke out against the incident in Melli. She stated, “We want an investigation and whoever is responsible for the act, whether from the SKM, SDF, or any other party, should be detained by the Sikkim Police.”
According to the JAC, two members sustained injuries during the incident, which took place during a JAC rally in Melli, under the Namchi district.
In Namchi, incidents of violence were reported where suspected members of the SKM were seen attacking houses and offices belonging to the Sikkim Democratic Front SDF party.
This reaction follows the burning of an effigy of Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay by SDF party members on Friday. In response, SKM workers also burned an effigy of SDF leader Pawan Kumar Chamling on Saturday. Both incidents took place in the state capital of Gangtok.
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The attack follows the impassioned speech of CM Golay during the 11th foundation day of the SKM on Saturday, where he called on his party members to “be ready for retaliation”.
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