Mizoram govt ready for talks with HPC(D)

The Mizoram government will formally convey to the leadership of Manipur-based Hmar People's Convention (Democratic) its willingness to hold talks.
A senior official in the state home department today said the proposal for initiating negotiations with HPC(D) was already approved by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla.
The home department has been asked to pursue the matter.
Earlier, Mizoram Home Minister R Lalzirliana announced that the state government was willing to initiate talks with the Hmar outfit after people of the north eastern part of the state adjoining Manipur, who have been hit by insurgency for years, made a number of appeals to the government to bring peace in the area.

The official, however, did not say whether HPC(D)'s self-styled Army Chief Lalropuia Famhoite, now incarcerated at the Central Jail near here, would be released to participate in the talks.
The HPC (D), formed in 1997, had been demanding a separate autonomous district council in the north eastern part of the state and indulging in violent activities to press their demands from across the Manipur border.