Khasi rebel outfit urged to give up armed struggle
By IANSSunday, May 2, 2010
SHILLONG - Meghalaya Home Minister H.D.R. Lyngdoh Sunday asked rebel leaders of the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) to give up their armed struggle for a Hynniewtrep homeland.
“I appeal to them (HNLC) to come overground and join the mainstream by giving up their armed struggle,” Lyngdoh told IANS.
The HNLC, a tribal Khasi separatist outfit that carries out hit-and-run operations from its hideouts in Bangladesh, has been demanding a sovereign Hynniewtrep homeland in eastern Meghalaya.
Lyngdoh’s statement assumes significance since only a day earlier the Bangladesh authorities handed over Ranjan Daimary, the chief of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), to India.
The HNLC is closely linked to the NDFB as well as to the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland and the National Liberation Front of Tripura.
“People want to live in peace and the HNLC must realise that they should give up their armed struggle for the interest of the state,” Lyngdoh said.
HNLC leaders - Cheristerfield Thangkhiew and Bobby Reagen Marwein, the operational head of the armed wing of the outfit - have been hiding in Bangladesh for over two decades.
Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh, part of which is porous, hilly and unfenced, and prone to frequent infiltration.
Julius K. Dorphang, the founder and chairman of the HNLC, who surrendered before the Meghalaya government due to internal feud within the outfit in 2007, said: “The HNLC leaders should understand the writing on the wall (Bangladesh actions against Indian insurgents). They should come overground and resolve their issues.”
Terming the government’s frequent offer as a “golden opportunity”, the former HNLC chairman said: “Opportunity comes only once and the HNLC leaders should waste no time but accept it.”
Another outlawed outfit, the Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC), fighting for creation of Garoland Autonomous Council, entered into a tripartite ceasefire with the central and the state government July 23, 2004.
According to Meghalaya police officials, the ANVC maintains close links with the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).
