Meghalaya government starts peace talk with HNLC

Officials on Friday said the Meghalaya government has begun the process to hold formal talks with the banished rebel outfit Hynniewtrep National Freedom Board (HNLC).

Meghalaya Home Department said that the state government has designated retired IAS officer Dwindle S Dkhar as the conversationalist for encouraging the talks with the HNLC, which also last month offered to hold peace talks with the Centre and the Meghalaya government without any pre-conditions.

With an endless knowledge of ethnic issues of Meghalaya, Dkhar is a former deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills and West Jaintia Hills districts.

Retired IPS officer A.K. Mishra, who is the advisor of the Union Home Ministry, will coordinate between the Centre and the state government on the talks with the HNLC.

Through a video message, the Chief Minister said, “The HNLC’s proposal to start talks with the governments beneath the parameters of the constitution is a welcome step. They are keen to talk to the government within the intrigued of peace and development."

He also added that more positive improvements are anticipated to take place within the following few days.

The insurgent group in a statement said that the peace activity was disrupted after last year’s killing or the fake encounter of the group’s former General Secretary Cherishterfield Thangkhiew.

The HNLC has claimed responsibility for the low-intensity impacts that took place in recent months in the heart of Shillong and other regions in the state.

While militancy is on the decrease in Meghalaya over the last several years since 2020 the HNLC has been behind a number of low-intensity IED impacts in the state.

The HNLC has been requesting a sovereign Khasi tribal homeland in Meghalaya, which could be a breakaway faction of the Hynniewtrep Achik Liberation Council, the first tribal militant outfit of the hill state, formed in the mid-1980s.