Shillong, February 8: The proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) on Tuesday said it is ready for unconditional talks with the Centre, a spokesperson of the group said.
The outfit urged the Centre to respond to its offer for peace and appoint an interlocutor to show the seriousness.
“As of now we are ready to talk within the ambit of the Constitution and we are ready to have talks without any preconditions … If the GOI is willing then we are ready to go for a dialogue,” HNLC general secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw said in a statement.
The aim is to end conflict, he said. “After decades of confrontation and sufferings we the HNLC decided to have a dialogue with the states and the Government of India in the hope that a peaceful solution shall be achieved leaving aside all bitterness.”
The HNLC leader said the “killing” of the former general secretary Chesterfield Thangkhiew, who was in favour of peace talks and was assigned the task to carry forward the peace initiative with the Centre, in 2021 had derailed the peace process.
“As assured by some elders, the peace talks shall provide an excellent oppurtunity for the government to strengthen peace in the region,” Nongtraw said.
The organisation was formed with the moral and arms support of Assam’s ULFA in the 1980s and took up arms in the “interest of the jaidbynriew (tribe)” as its sole concern, he said. (PTI)