Leaders of the outlawed Hynñiewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) will be granted safe passage to attend peace talks with the government.
This was revealed by Sadon K Blah, the HNLC’s choice of interlocutor, today at a press conference.
Three rounds of talks have already been held in the last three months between the HNLC’s ‘executive committee’, Blah and the government’s interlocutor, retired senior civil servant Peter Dkhar.
The safe passage will allow the HNLC leaders who are engaged in the peace process to travel into India without fear of arrest.
“The entire intention of a safe passage is to enable the HNLC to come and have a direct conversation with the authorities,” Blah said. “It will also speed up the process of peace talks if the leaders of the HNLC are able to join the discussions and negotiations.”
The peace talks came about after the militant group made a sudden about-turn in Ferbruary after it had upped its terror activities with several improvised explosive device (IED) blasts in Shillong and Khliehriat, the last of which took place on January 30. Before it turned to IED attacks, the HNLC was largely dormant and was not thought to have very many personnel at its base(s) in Bangladesh. It did, however, continue to send out strongly-worded press releases, occasionally.
