Aizawl, Mar 20: The
Mizoram government and the Hmar rebels will sign a memorandum of settlement in
April, Home minister R Lalzirliana said at the ongoing Mizoram state
legislative assembly.
The agreement will bring an end to 28 years of
the Hmar People's Convention Democrats armed conflict.
Several rounds of talks have been had between
the Mizoram government and the Hmar outfit over the years.
The Hmar ethnic group has been fighting for
autonomy since 1994, a political agreement was made in the recently concluded
talks in Aizawl on March 8, 2018.
“There are no reports of any presence of
underground elements in Mizoram, what has been bothering us is the Hmar
imbroglio, the state government has made every steps necessary to ensure the
stalemate is resolved, the Mizoram government will sign a memorandum of
settlement with the HPCD next month,” Mizoram home minister R Lalzirliana said.
The home minister also told the house that there
were no anti-government underground elements within the boundary of Mizoram and
that if it arises the government would leave no stone unturned in the
propagation of peace in Mizoram.
The HPCD us an armed Hmar ethnic based outfit
who took to arms in 1994, they were a breakaway faction of the HPC who signed
peace agreement with the Mizoram government in 1994.
A two day long political talk between the rebel
leaders and the Mizoram government was had last month, both the parties reached
an agreement. Lalrinmawia Ralte, a political adviser to the chief minister, who
headed the 10 member government delegation said both sides have unanimously
agreed to sign Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) based on the framework of
agreement made earlier.
An offshoot of the erstwhile Hmar People’s
Convention (HPC) (now political party), which took up arms for autonomy roughly
in 1989, the HPC(D) came as a fallout of dissatisfaction over the peace accord
signed between the Congress led Mizoram government and HPC on July 27,1994.
Initially, the outfit had demanded the creation
of Autonomous District Council (ADC) under sixth scheduled to the constitution
of India by carving out area in Hmar dominated north Mizoram adjoining Manipur.
The peace parley which began on 10 August 2016
has culminated in an agreement, which in turn is likely to be end up with
according more autonomy to the existing Sinlung Hills Development Council
(SHDC), which came into existence as a result of the 1994 accord, against the
larger aspiration of the Hmar people. UNI
