SHILLONG, June 24: The Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) sought amnesty during its tripartite talks with the Centre and the state government which began at Umiam on Saturday.
The responses from both governments were said to be positive.
HNLC interlocutor Sadon Blah said, “This is another chapter of the peace process. We talked about the need to waive all the criminal charges against the HNLC cadres and leaders.”
According to him, there are state-level and central-level charges.
“The central-level charges against the HNLC are NIA (National Investigation Agency) charge-sheet and notices of summons issued by NIA to the chairman and the secretary (of HNLC). This is the matter that has hampered this peace process so far,” Blah said. Talking about the state-level charges, he said there are multiple charges slapped by the police against several leaders of the outfit in various districts. He said the discussion was on whether both governments can reconsider withdrawing the charges before the peace process finally moves on.
Stating that the responses from state and central representatives were positive, Blah said, “There will be procedural withdrawal of the cases. The statements from both sides are that amnesty will be considered in a matter of weeks. The government will communicate to us and we will proceed further based on that.”
HNLC vice-chairman Manbha Rynjah said the outfit will wait for a written response.
“Based on the communication, we will hold a meeting to decide on the future course of action in terms of the peace process,” he added.
AK Mishra and Peter Dkhar are the Centre’s interlocutors while Ronnie Wahlang is participating in the talks on behalf of the state.
