Ampareen refutes rebel leader’s Congress remark

SHILLONG: Senior Congress leader Ampareen Lyngdoh said on Saturday the surrendered HNLC militant should not blame any political party for keeping him away from the mainstream.
Lyngdoh was reacting to a statement of former HNLC general secretary Cheristerfield Thangkhiew that the Congress was responsible for creating trouble in different states.
While welcoming the surrendered rebel to join the mainstream, Lyngdoh said, “What makes you think that the Congress did not make necessary efforts to negotiate? Or maybe we were not wanting to negotiate. Negotiation was not a verb that was used by us when we were in the government. We just said we would try to connect with ultras from any part of the state and succeeded substantially but in the case of the HNLC, there were stumbling blocks.”
Lyngdoh also wanted to know about the “nature of the arrangement of his surrender” and asked the government to make public the details.
“There is going to be reactions and questioning by the public whether we are going to allow re-entry into the mainstream of anybody irrespective of the history.
“Are you going to just forgive and forget? Is this the correct message to send to the young people of the state? Is this how government works,” Lyngdoh said.
Urging the government to keep people in the loop about the recent surrender, the Congress MLA said the opposition would raise the matter in the Assembly if details of the surrender were not revealed.
“I am yet to understand whether the member of a particular outfit has come to surrender on his own or come with others. Was there any surrender of arms or any other members with this individual? These are things which remain vague to the public and like every member in the city I am also wondering about the nature of the arrangement of his surrender,” she added.