SHILLONG:
The ongoing unrest in Manipur has cast its shadow over Meghalaya as peace talks with the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), which were supposed to take place in the first week of June, have now been postponed due to the situation in that state.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “As you are aware the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is quite busy with the different developments in Manipur and it has made things slightly more complicated. So we are in touch with the MHA.”
Stating that the Centre is very serious about the peace talks, Sangma said, “They (MHA) are very serious about this entire thing and we should be starting (the formal peace talks) very soon. But we have had a bit of complications because of the Manipur situation and the Government of India and MHA are very deeply involved in what’s happening there. So I hope we should be able to move things forward very soon.”
Earlier, the chief minister had announced that the formal talks with the HNLC will be held in the first week of June and said, “Of course, they (HNLC) have mentioned certain points and obviously as a government, we will try to ensure whatever steps to be taken to ensure that they are comfortable in terms and feel safe from all angles and other issues of concerns we will try to take them up. But obviously, conditions that are beyond the state government’s jurisdiction and certain discussions which have to take place with the Government of India, those matters will have to be taken up at that level.”