The Instrument of Accession and Annexation, signed by the Khasi states after Indian independence remains important for society even to this day and cannot simply be dismissed by the Indian government, senior Congress leader Ampareen Lyngdoh told Highland Post today.
Lyngdoh said this in reaction to a purported statement from Chief Minister Conrad Sangma recently that the Centre had rejected peace overtures from the HNLC because the latter had asked for the maintenance of the accession agreement.
“How can the government of India take away the Instrument of Accession that our forefathers had agreed upon to be part of India? It is part of our history that our forefathers signed with Dr Ambedkar,” she said.
It is not just the HNLC that sees this as important but the ordinary citizens of the state, she stated.
The East Shillong MLA also made it clear that the state government has never called for an all-party meeting on the rejection of peace talks with the HNLC by the government of India and never placed it on the floor of the Assembly.
Stating that this is the first time that she has heard from Sangma about the rejection made by the central government on peace talks with the HNLC, she said that what the CM said recently was never made public and that the state government should ask for inputs from all political parties in the state on this matter.
Lyngdoh further appealed that whatever the agenda the HNLC has, the militant group has to adopt a non-violent stand and cannot put the public at risk.
It was in Lyngdoh’s constituency that an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated last week, causing minor injuries to two people.
“Placement of and blasting an IED in a public market would mean you are compromising the safety of the public who are your blood and your people and it is a crime,” she said.
On Saturday Sangma had said that talks with the HNLC remained inconclusive since the militants did not agree to talks without conditions, as had been sought by the Centre.
Instead, militant attacks in Jaiñtia Hills kicked off before last week’s attack in Shillong.
