Tripartite meet on ANVC peace pact held lFinal agreement shortly,
says ANVC publicity secretary Arist Sangma
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Seeking an end to bloodshed in the militant-hit Garo Hills region, both ANVC and ANVC (B) on Saturday signed a draft agreement with the both Centre and State Government for expansion of powers of the Garo Hills Autonomous District (GHADC).
The draft agreement was signed during the tripartite meeting between the representatives of the militant outfit and officials of the State Government and Union Ministry of Home Affairs here.
The final Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) will be signed after the draft agreement gets the mandatory approval of the State Cabinet and the Union Cabinet.
While expressing satisfaction over the outcome of the meeting, the ANVC publicity secretary Arist Sangma said the final agreement would be signed shortly.
Maintaining that the basic demand of the outfit for a Garoland Autonomous Council has not changed, he said, “It is only the nomenclature of GHADC which has been retained.”
“The GHADC has been empowered with several other subjects. The Town and Community Development department would now be given to the GHADC. By allotting this department to the council, the Municipal Boards would be abolished from the scheduled areas,” Sangma said.
He said that several other important departments would be given to the GHADC once this MOS is signed.
According to ANVC publicity secretary, the ANVC also demanded increase of the strength of the GHADC from the existing 30 to 40 members.
“Out of the 40, 35 members would be elected and the remaining five would be nominated,” Sangma said.
Replying to a query, he said that ANVC would demand that two of the nominated members should be from the outfit and out of the three remaining, two should go to the Nokma and one seat will be for a woman.
Asked when they are going to surrender all their arms, Sangma said they would surrender the remaining arms in their custody once they signed the agreement.
On the presence of the ANVC (B) during this tripartite meeting, he said that it is a great thing to see them being a part and parcel of the whole agreement.
“I hope that the decision of the ANVC (B) would largely contribute towards return of peace in Garo Hills region,” Sangma said.
When asked if they would pursue with the GNLA to be part of this whole negotiation, he said that they would definitely try to persuade with the GNLA to come and join in this landmark peace pact.
On the present strength of the ANVC, he said that they have a total number of 168 cadres in their fold while also informing that the ANVC (B) had claimed during the meeting that they have a total strength of 150 cadres.
“The ANVC (B) is expected to submit the details of its cadres and its weapons to the State Government shortly,” Sangma said.
The Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Home affairs, Shambu Singh termed Saturday’s meeting as a big achievement.
The next process is that both the state and union cabinet has to give nod to the draft settlement, after which an agreement will be signed, he added.
Meanwhile, the Centre-appointed interlocutor, PC Haldar said that his job was to bring the two groups together to the negotiation table.
“Now, it is for the Centre and State Government to take a call on the points which were agreed during tripartite meeting,” Haldar said adding that his role in this whole negotiation is nearly coming to an end.
Besides Haldar, others who attended the tripartite meeting include Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary (North East) Shambhu Singh, Chief Secretary WMS Pariat, Principal Secretary (Home) K S Kropha, ANVC general secretary Wanding K Marak and ANVC (B) chairman Rimpu N Marak among others.
