Shillong, Jan 15: Chief minister Conrad K Sangma has appealed to the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) to re-join the negotiation process in order to ensure lasting peace in the state.
The government is absolutely open for peace talks with the outfit, he told reporters after a cabinet meeting here on Wednesday.
“We invite the organization for talks and we are happy to again facilitate the entire process like we did last time,” he said while referring to the first round of peace talks held in 2023.
He said things could not move forward after the outfit had decided to pull out of the peace talks in January last year.
Asserting the need to overcome the challenges, Sangma said, “Hurdles are natural in difficult discussion and negotiation like this but that should not let us down.”
“We want long lasting peace and ensure that all these issues are addressed through discussion within the constitutional framework… and move forward,” he said.
“We are ready to discuss and let us come to the table to talk and whatever concerns that are there, the best to resolve those concerns is through dialogues,” he added.
On the HNLC’s demand for general amnesty, the chief minister said, “This aspect has been discussed many times. From government of India point of view, it has mentioned that we cannot announce that right now, because there are certain cases, laws, rules that are there from the past…”
Clarifying that the state government cannot take a call on general amnesty, he said, “There are certain heinous crimes… We cannot just say everything is off, we cannot do it.”
Meanwhile, he said the government had assured safe passage to the outfit during the period of discussion.
