SHILLONG, Jan 5: Spokesperson of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh on Friday appealed to the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) not to pull out of the ongoing peace talks.
Speaking to reporters, Lyngdoh said the government has only seen the HNLC’s statement conveying its decision to withdraw from the tripartite peace talks in media reports, but officially nothing has been communicated to the government as yet.
“I would appeal to the HNLC not to pull out of the peace talks because a lot of grounds have been covered initially and we would hope that good sense will prevail and we should be able to return to the negotiating table,” he said.
Asked, Lyngdoh said he will not be in a position to say much on the issue since both chief minister Conrad K Sangma and deputy chief minister in-charge of home (police) Prestone Tynsong are presently out of the station.
“Certainly the government will take a call on the matter and it should happen very soon once the CM is back,” he added.
He further assured that the matter will be taken priority once the CM and the deputy are back in town.
Referring to the NIA cases against the outfit, the spokesperson said, “In peace talks, the approach should be such that it should not be detrimental to any party. The interests of both parties have to be considered.”
“Based on the principle of reciprocity we can take a stand on matters of details, but the general approach should be on of give and take,” he asserted. (NNN)