June 11, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 06, 1429

KOLKATA, June 10: Tens of thousands of tourists were stranded in northeast India on Tuesday amid a strike by a group demanding a separate state in the hills around the tea-producing area of Darjeeling, police said.

Shops, offices and schools were shut and the streets were deserted after the group called for an indefinite general strike in a renewed call for a state for the Nepalese Gorkha community in the region.

The Gorkha People’s Liberation Front (GJM) on Monday had asked all tourists to leave Darjeeling, about 500 kilometres north of Kolkata.

The group’s green, white and yellow flags fluttered atop shops and hotels, as hundreds of supporters shouted slogans demanding Gorkhaland.

“Nearly 40,000 tourists, including dozens of foreigners, are stranded in Darjeeling,” police inspector general Raj Kanojia said.

The official said a special train would bring the tourists back from Darjeeling, which is close to Nepal.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said the strike would continue “until the government accepts our demand for a separate state for Gorkhas.”—AFP