Kalimpong, June 18: A group of six former army officers from Darjeeling had missed a routine meeting with the visiting senior commander here today after bandh picketers forced them to abandon their journey mid-way, allegedly under instructions from the leadership of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

All six are members of the Zilla Sainik Board, which looks after the welfare of ex-servicemen, and were scheduled to join five of their colleagues from Kalimpong, Siliguri and Jalpaiguri for a meeting with Lt Gen. Deepak Raj, the General-Officer-Commanding of the Sukna-based Trishakti Corps.

“It was a routine meeting convened to discuss the welfare of ex-servicemen,” said a senior army officer.

However, the six from Darjeeling were stopped even though they were travelling in an army vehicle.

“We were stopped by a group of picketers at the bend below Peshok Bazaar (about 25km from here) and told to return,” said N.K. Pradhan, a retired colonel, on the phone from Darjeeling.

The bandh enforcers had also set up a picket at 8th Mile here and were seen checking all passing vehicles. Some of them, on condition of anonymity, said they were specially instructed to keep an eye on ex-servicemen coming to Kalimpong.

“This was entirely unnecessary as such meetings are routine affairs. Visiting senior officers take the opportunity of interacting with ex-servicemen to get a first-hand knowledge about their problems, and today’s meeting was no different,” said D.K. Pradhan, a former colonel and the president of the GNLF (C), who attended the meeting with Raj.

Roshan Giri, the Morcha secretary, said he was not aware of the incident. “I will have to crosscheck with Col (retd) Ramesh Allay (the president of the Bhutpurva Sainik Morcha, an organisation of ex-servicemen affiliated to Giri’s party). You can get back to me after half-an-hour,” he said.

However, subsequently, despite repeated attempts, Giri could not be contacted. Allay, too, could not be reached.