Meghalaya: HNLC optimistic about peaceful solution after tripartite talks in June

Meghalaya government too is hopeful that it will be able to come to a positive solution after the formal talks begin, said CM Sangma

Meghalaya-based banned insurgent group Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) on Tuesday said that it is hopeful that the tripartite talks scheduled to be held in the first week of June would head towards a peaceful solution.

Speaking at a press conference in Umiam, the proscribed outfit has expressed their keenness for the tripartite talks with interlocutor Sadon K. Blah.

Chief Minister Conrad Sangma earlier said that Deputy CM Prestone Tynsong held an informal meeting with the HNLC political secretary, vice-chairman, executive member, and interlocutor regarding the matter and decided to hold begin the formal talks in the first week of June.

CM Sangma also said that HNLC have raised certain points and the state government will try to ensure that they feel comfortable and safe from all angles during the talks. CM Sangma said that the government too is hopeful that it will be able to come to a positive solution after the formal talks begins.

The HNLC is a militant organisation operating in Meghalaya. It claims to represent the Khasi-Jaintia tribal people, and its aim is to free Meghalaya from the alleged domination of outsiders. It was proscribed on 16 November 2000, but the ban was later lifted. It was banned again in 2019. The HNLC primarily operates in the Khasi Hills region and has carried out a number of terror activities in Shillong.
Some of its camps were located in Bangladesh, mostly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts with the top HNLC leadership being based in Dhaka.
The Meghalaya government and the state police have accused HNLC of being involved in a number of illegal activities including killing, abduction, robbery, arms smuggling, cattle smuggling and extortion in the Jaintia Hills coal belt. It has also been accused of circulating fake currency in the state, supported by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.
HNLC has claimed that it has tried to help the Khasi people and to make society better. It launched Operation Kyllang (hurricane) to publicly punish rapists by torturing them and claimed to have reduced crime in the Khasi Hills.

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