Shillong, Aug 14: The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has demanded an independent inquiry into the killing of former HNLC leader Cheristerfield Thangkhiew, and calling the whole incident ‘brutal’.

In a press statement issued on Saturday MPCC working president James S Lyngdoh said, “The MPCC demands an independent inquiry into the incident and it should be done to restore faith in our justice system.”

Expressing condolences to the bereaved family, Lyngdoh said the MPCC strongly condemned this act of brutality against a person who has shown courage and shun the path of violence.

“He was also instrumental in facilitating a process of peace and reconciliation with other members who are yet to join the mainstream,” he said.

The working president said that the MPCC has always encouraged youths who chose violence to shun the path of bloodshed and to have peaceful talks with the government.

“Over the past few years, the efforts of the MPCC and the previous Congress governments have been successful in encouraging hundred of youths to join the path of peace,” he said.

“The unwarranted act of shooting an unarmed person in the wee hours of the night conveys a message of betrayal, injustice and abject failure of the state government in handling sensitive matters of law and order,” Lyngdoh said while reminding that peace cannot prevail with the sound of guns.