Shillong, Jan 7: The state government has kept its doors open for talks with the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), but not ready to compromise on any “non-negotiable issue”.
The HNLC had, almost a year ago, pulled out of the tripartite peace talks held with the Centre and State governments alleging that its five core demands, which include general amnesty, were not addressed and fulfilled.
The talks will resume when all parties reach a point of convergence,” said chief secretary DP Wahlang while talking to reporters here on Tuesday.
Referring to the failure of the tripartite talks, he said, “At that point of time, we were keen to continue with the discussion but unfortunately, there were some tricky points… we could not meet at a point of convergence as far as those issues are concerned.”
Then they were asked to go back and hold a discussion among themselves before getting back to the government.
“They went back and they had meetings among themselves, but they have not come to us to resume the talks. So we are waiting. Our doors are open, that is the most important thing,” Wahlang said.
Mentioning that there were both negotiable and non-negotiable points during the first round of peace talks, he said, “So when it is non-negotiable – as we have to take into consideration that Ministry of Home Affairs in the middle of this – non-negotiable issues cannot be compromised.”
