Silchar, July 6: The peace talks between the Mizoram government and the Hmar People’s Conference (D) will resume in Aizawl on July 18, a senior official of the state home department said today.
The talks aim at ushering peace into the Hmar-inhabited areas of the state. The official said there have been nine face-to-face meetings between the Mizoram government and the HPC (D) since 2010 but there has been no breakthrough yet.
He said the next meeting will also discuss the extension of the suspension of operations agreement, which is due to expire this month.
The group is demanding more powers to the Hmar Development Council that has its headquarters at Sakerdawi in Mizoram.
The HPC (D)’s principal demand was an autonomous district council under the Sixth Schedule, amalgamating the Hmar-inhabited areas in Mizoram, Manipur and Assam’s Cachar and Dima Hasao districts. The demand has been abandoned, paving the way for peace talks.
The council was formed in 1995 after the first insurgent gang of the Hmar tribe, the Hmar People’s Conference (HPC), surrendered and laid down arms in 1994 under the leadership of the then chairman Hmingchhungnung to the former chief secretary of the Mizoram government, Lalkhama.
The HPC (D) was floated in 2000 by a breakaway group in the HPC led by Lalhmingthanga, a dropout of St Edmund’s College in Shillong and a Hmar tribal.
The principal demand of the HPC (D) is to form an autonomous district council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, amalgamating the Hmar-inhabited areas in Mizoram, Manipur and Assam’s Cachar and Dima Hasao districts.
However, the demand has been abandoned, paving the way for peace talks.
~ Telegraph India
The talks aim at ushering peace into the Hmar-inhabited areas of the state. The official said there have been nine face-to-face meetings between the Mizoram government and the HPC (D) since 2010 but there has been no breakthrough yet.
He said the next meeting will also discuss the extension of the suspension of operations agreement, which is due to expire this month.
The group is demanding more powers to the Hmar Development Council that has its headquarters at Sakerdawi in Mizoram.
The HPC (D)’s principal demand was an autonomous district council under the Sixth Schedule, amalgamating the Hmar-inhabited areas in Mizoram, Manipur and Assam’s Cachar and Dima Hasao districts. The demand has been abandoned, paving the way for peace talks.
The council was formed in 1995 after the first insurgent gang of the Hmar tribe, the Hmar People’s Conference (HPC), surrendered and laid down arms in 1994 under the leadership of the then chairman Hmingchhungnung to the former chief secretary of the Mizoram government, Lalkhama.
The HPC (D) was floated in 2000 by a breakaway group in the HPC led by Lalhmingthanga, a dropout of St Edmund’s College in Shillong and a Hmar tribal.
The principal demand of the HPC (D) is to form an autonomous district council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, amalgamating the Hmar-inhabited areas in Mizoram, Manipur and Assam’s Cachar and Dima Hasao districts.
However, the demand has been abandoned, paving the way for peace talks.
~ Telegraph India
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Mizoram