SHILLONG:
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday assured that the government will take stern action against perpetrators of the Khyndailad IED blast and against attempts to create fear amongst the citizens of the state.
“I can assure everyone that we will leave no stone unturned to ensure we get to all the people who are involved in this and those trying to create fear are punished, ” Sangma told reporters.
The HNLC while claiming responsibility for the blast on Sunday evening had also threatened traders with dire consequences if they defied the outfit’s diktat for paying tax. Sangma said, “I want to assure our traders and people that we will take action and we will ensure that those who are trying to create fear will be brought to justice.”
Expressing concern over the arrest of a juvenile in connection with incident, the chief minister admitted that there have been instances where young boys and girls have deviated. “We in the government believe it is important for us to engage the youth in a proper manner,” he said and emphasised the need to give opportunities to the youth so that they do not go astray. This is the reason why the MDA government is focusing largely on entrepreneurship and youth policy, he said.
“I mentioned in my speech on January 26 and January 21 that ensuring opportunities to the youth is going to be one of the challenges in the coming decades for us and we will ensure we address this issue,” he added.
The chief minister also rejected allegation of intelligence failure on the part of the police. “One should not feel the police are not doing their job,” he said adding it was because of a strong intelligence network that they could nab the culprits within 12 hours of the blast.
Meanwhile, Sangma reiterated that the state government is open for talks with the HNLC but it cannot be conditional.
“We are very much open. We have always maintained that we are open but it cannot be conditional,” Sangma told journalists when asked if the government is still keen to have peace talks with the outfit in view of the frequent bomb blast incidents.
He said there have been communications between the government and the HNLC for the last three years.
“We have seen that in the initial stages there were conditions. Therefore, we tried to communicate through the Government of India and also through other agencies that these kinds of conditions are not acceptable from the Government of India’s point of view. So they should come forward without any conditions and then discuss further. So processes are on for that,” Sangma informed.