By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 14: The HNLC’s peace talks with state and central governments seems to have run into rough weather after its general secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw was summoned by a judicial magistrate’s court recently in connection with a case.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said the government is awaiting a response from the leaders of the outfit before deciding on how to move forward with the peace talks. “As and when we get that response, we will decide how to move forward,” Sangma said, insisting that all stakeholders need to have a certain level of commitment to the process.
He said there are certain areas of concerns from both sides and the government is working on those.
Sangma said the NIA case against HNLC leaders is an old one. He said it is from the Centre’s side and information has been already passed on to HNLC. He said the state government has already raised the matter with central government.
Recently, Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Home (Police) Prestone Tynsong had stated that the government has already communicated to HNLC that it wants the outfit’s chairman Bobby Marwein and Nongtraw to be present in the next round of peace talks.
Earlier, the HNLC was livid over the notice issued to Nongtraw and threatened that it would pull out of the peace negotiations if such attitude of the government continues.
It had demanded that the charges against its leaders be dropped and a general amnesty be offered to them to ensure the success of the peace process.
Subsequently, Tynsong clarified that the notice was issued by a court, not the state government.
“This is the normal process of the court. The government has nothing to do with this since the judiciary and executive have already been separated,” Tynsong had stated.