New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) Bowing to the request of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to advance the date for tripartite talks on its demand for a separate Gorkhaland, the government Saturday advanced the date by a fortnight to Aug 11 as a “goodwill gesture”.
“This has been done as a goodwill gesture to the GJM. This is the earliest possible date for holding the tripartite talks after the current parliament session ends,” said a home ministry statement.

The government had earlier proposed to hold the talks — between GJM, the West Bengal and central governments — on Aug 24.

On Friday, the GJM sent a fax message to the central government demanding that the tripartite meeting be called early and decided to partially relax the ongoing shutdown in Darjeeling district from Monday.

The GJM, which is fighting for a separate Gorkhaland state to be carved out in north Bengal, said it would relax the strike July 20-23. It began the shutdown July 13.