Shillong, Aug 25: Five leaders of the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) have arrived in the state for peace talks with the government. This was confirmed by the outfit’s representative and president of the Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) Sadon K Blah on Thursday.

“The five leaders of the HNLC have arrived in the state on August 5, and are stationed at the MeECL IB, at Sumer. This is one step of the process for the peace talks to start between the outfit and the government,” Blah said.

According to him, the leaders have informally met the government interlocutor PS Dkhar soon after their arrival.

When asked, Blah said “Now is the next phase of the ground work and it depends on the government to decide on the official talks so that we can move forward with it. The date is yet to be fixed by them.”