SHILLONG, Nov 9: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday said the official peace talks with the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) will start very soon.

“So the process is on and we are committed. There are talks happening. We expect more talks to happen in the future at an official level and I hope that official talks will also be starting very soon,” Sangma told reporters.

He added, “In fact the MHA and Union Home Minister himself has been continuously monitoring this issue and they are also very keen that we are able to take the peace talks to a logical conclusion.”

When asked, Sangma said discussions are on and ground works in many ways is being done.

“It is very difficult for me to really talk about it because it would not be correct but let me just say that a number of meetings at an unofficial level have taken place (as) some time has been sought to get some things in place and certain procedures to be followed and so on and so forth… So the process is on but as I said it is not like a government programme or a programme meeting or normal discussion that takes place where we just say let us meet tomorrow – a lot of preparation goes into this, a lot of background work needs to be done and lots of discussions, pre-discussions. Therefore, it has to be done in a way that we are able to take everybody into confidence and hence it is important to ensure that aspect is also looked into. So, one needs to be firm and keep pushing but one also needs to give the space to ensure that the confidence and the overall trust and comfort level is built up,” he added.

Notably, five senior leaders of the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) came to the State in September for peace talks with the government.

The HNLC team comprises of its vice chairman Manbhalang Jyrwa, political secretary Aristerwell Thongni and foreign secretary Phrangkupar Diengdoh and two of their PSOs (personal security officers) – Aiborlem Marbaniang and Storgy Lyngdoh.