Shillong, Sep 4: Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Home (Police) Prestone Tynsong has said the government had already communicated to HNLC that it wanted the outfit’s chairman Bobby Marwein and the general secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw to be present in the next round of talks.
Tynsong told reporters that the ball is now in the HNLC’s court and the government is waiting for them to proceed further with the ongoing peace talks.
“We are waiting for them (HNLC). We have already communicated to them. So the ball is now in their court,” he said.
“As far as HNLC talks is concerned I would like to assure them once again, I would also like to request all of them especially their senior leaders please come forward, we are waiting for you both State and Centre for the further talks which we would like to have,” he added.
The HNLC had expressed protest against the summon notice issued to its general secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw despite the ongoing peace talks.
The outfit has also demanded the government to consider the general amnesty to all its leaders failing which they may have to withdraw from the entire negotiations.
In response, Tynsong said the summon notice was not issued by the government but it is just a normal process of the court.
According to him, the judiciary and the executive is already seperated.
“I think you understand that but see we had a formal talk once. Both the Central and State government have requested them to please speed up as to what are the issues they wanted for discussion. We are waiting for that,” he said.
“In fact, my appeal to them to the HNLC once again be serious, come up, we are waiting for you then we will discuss. As I said to you they need not be so panicky about the warrant issued by the court or the summon issued by the court. This is a normal process as I said to you that is why we would like to process the sitting at the earliest possible then we will work out all the issues,” he said.
Regarding the demand for general amnesty, the deputy chief minister said, “In the first round of peace talks we have discussed all these . We also said that we want to talk to top leaders not just the vice chairman. If they are serious, both State and Central government are very serious and I appeal to them to communicate their decision through their linkman and our linkman. We are ready for further sitting in the days to come.” Tynsong said, “Crime is crime. I dont know what do you mean by saying heinous. Crime is crime whether big or small… it is subjected to the law. That is what I am saying the law will take its own course. When there is criminal activities, we have to do it and there is no way out.”
In a statement, the HNLC reiterated the demand for the government to withdraw all cases against its leaders which is similar to what the Nagaland government did for the NSCN (IM) in 2002.
“The government should not deceive or mislead the HNLC. We expect the government to first withdraw the cases, similar to what the Nagaland government did in 2002. If the government of Nagaland could do it, then why is the Meghalaya government hesitant to follow suit?” HNLC general secretary-cum-publicity secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw said in a statement.
Describing the deputy chief minister in-charge Home (Police) Prestone Tynsong’s statement as ‘political nonsense’, Nongtraw said, “In the statement made by Tynsong regarding the court’s notice summoning me as the general secretary, it is clear that his words are simply political nonsense. The question that arises is: Who holds the authority to make the final appointments to the judges of the Supreme Court and High Court? Typically, the power to grant amnesty to any banned organization lies within the executive branch of the government”, the HNLC said.
