SHILLONG, AUG 20: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday reiterated that the government is ready for peace talks with the banned Khasi rebel outfit – Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) provided that all “conditions” put forth by it are withdrawn.
“We have already started communicating with them (HNLC), rather they had approach us also and based on that we had given a verbal communication saying that we are keen for long lasting peace but discussion at the government of India and government of Meghalaya level cannot take place with conditions being put in the first letter that they had sent to us,” Sangma told reporters.
“(Accordingly), we had repeatedly informed them that we would want you to not mention those conditions, come to the talks unconditionally, shun violence and within the constitutional framework of the country, we are ready to talk and discuss and that is our stand even today,” he maintained.
The Chief Minister further informed that about 45 days back in one of his visits to Delhi, a detailed meeting was held with the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs on this issue.
“We again expressed to them that this is what it is and they (MHA) again expressed to us that they (HNLC) have to come out with a letter that is not having the conditions – that is how it is right now but I would like to again stress that obviously the government would want that the talks to happen but it cannot be on the basis of the conditions,” he added.
On the requests made by the HNLC for appointment of interlocutor to facilitate the peace talks, Sangma however said, “…for these processes to move forward, they (HNLC) must come ahead with no conditions and especially the conditions that they have mentioned and they must shun violence, they must be ready to speak in terms of the constitutional framework of the country – so all these aspects that we have mentioned earlier and on earlier occasions also – these will have to be met and only then can we take the discussion forward so therefore, that is what it is right now and if we are given a letter mentioning that they are ready to talk without these then the process ahead can be taken.”
In the letter to the state home minister on January 16, earlier this year, Chairman cum Commander-in-Chief of the HNLC Bobby Marwein had stated – “We hereby express our concern towards the government of Meghalaya to have opened this door of opportunity that paved way for us in expressing our willingness to come forward for peace talks.”
“The council also hopes that this step would surely create a conducive atmosphere to take things forward to the negotiating table in a better perspective. The topic of coming to the negotiating table is nothing new as this has been pending for decades. It has been one of the reasons for our resentment too. We respect your gestures and if at all the GOM is sincere, then we also assure you that we shall work with sincerity along with our mind, our dedication and our honesty to build bridges rather than walls,” Marwein said.
The HNLC in its letter had demanded the need to revive the Standstill agreement and to rectify the Instrument of Accession.
“Our primary demand is to (either) revive the Standstill agreement that was signed on August 9, 1947,” it said.
“We demand that there should either be a rectification or a re-visit signed between the Government of India and the Hynniewtrep states that come into effect from December 15, 1947 till the march 19, 1948,” it added.
The HNLC had also questioned how it could come for peace talks when it was still declared as ‘Unlawful Association’ under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. It demanded that the ban be withdrawn.
The outfit further demanded the need to withdraw all the pending cases of our members and cadres from various lower courts and higher courts of the entire state in general and Khasi Hills Jaintia Hills in particular.
Urging the need to create a safe passage to all our central leaders and cadres of the army wing, the HNLC said , “In order to ease the process of talks, we would appoint representatives who shall be duly authorized and take forward our correspondences.
As a banned organization we also hope that together combined in our efforts we could look up towards a fruitful solution to the entire process at the earliest.
We are looking forward to joining the mainstream and giving peace a chance.”
By Our Reporter
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