SHILLONG, Oct 16: Former Cabinet Minister and senior BJP senior leader, AL Hek has offered to mediate for the banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) if the group wants to hold peace talks with the Centre.
All attempts to bring the outfit to the negotiation table have failed so far.
“I am ready to be their spokesperson if the HNLC wants to continue their talks with the Centre,” Hek said, adding he does not regret his decision of offering to start parleys for the group still indulging in illegal activities.
The HNLC has over the past few months detonated a couple of bombs in the state besides sending extortion notes to several politicians.
The BJP leader said he wants each member of the banned outfit to join the mainstream. He promised to take up their issues at the meeting of the BJP’s national executive committee meeting, of which he is a member.
He demanded justice for the family of former HNLC leader Cheristerfield Thangkhiew who was killed in a police encounter at his Mawlai residence in August. “The way he was gunned down is unacceptable in our society,” he said.
On the HNLC’s call to the people not to vote for the National People’s Party in the Assembly by-elections, Hek said no one can be forced to vote or not to vote for any political party. “It is ultimately the citizens who decide whether they would vote for regional or national parties or even for independent candidates,” he said.
Asserting that he wants Meghalaya to be a militancy-free state, he said he also wants the state to be free from communalism and hatred.