India: Peace Talks In Meghalaya – Analysis
On August 12, 2023, the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) threatened to withdraw from ongoing peace talks with the Meghalaya Government if attempts were made to impose terms on them.
The outfit asserted that it operated independently and was not subject to governmental authority. Following a dispute between the leaders of the militant formation and the Meghalaya Government over the planned visit by HNLC leaders to the house of the late Cheristerfield Thangkhiew, general secretary and public secretary of the HNLC, Saiñkupar Nongtraw issued a threat on his Facebook post on August 12, “The government’s decision has angered the HNLC. We are not the Meghalaya Police or State employees that the government can issue orders to. If this is the attitude, we will retract from the peace talks.”
Significantly, the HNLC leaders, presently in the state for peace talks, had planned to visit and pay homage to their former leader, Thangkhiew, at his house in Mawlai at around 2 pm [IST] on August 13, as decided in consultation with his family. However, the state officials told them to reschedule their visit to 8 am in the morning. The reason given by the State Government is not known.
The latest development is a setback in the process of peace of ongoing peace talks, which were hitherto seen to be progressing rapidly.
Indeed, on August 8, 2023, in a meeting with Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi at New Delhi, the Chief Minister (CM) of Meghalaya, Conrad K. Sangma discussed the ongoing peace talks with the HNLC among a range of other issues. During the meeting Sangma apprised Modi that the formal dialogue with the outfit was underway, and the state government was optimistic that the peace process would reach a successful conclusion.
Earlier, on August 4, 2023, the Deputy Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Prestone Tynsong, had stated that the first round of formal peace talks with HNLC had already taken place where all issues were discussed. He added,
So now we are waiting for the next meeting. From the government side, we are ready but we leave it ultimately to the decision to be taken by the leaders of the organisation (HNLC)… Let the talks continue… right now the ball is in their court as from the government we are ready at midnight, midday, anytime, any moment, we want to complete the process of talks and to reach a permanent conclusion.
Earlier, on July 17, 2023, HNLC’s representative Sadon Blah expressed optimism that the next round of talks would be held soon, as there was an absence of any negative sentiment during the multiple rounds of meetings, both official and unofficial, since the first round of talks. Regarding the most contentious issue of amnesty for HNLC cadres involved in criminal cases, Blah mentioned that the government was actively working on this. Later, on July 20, 2023, Chief Minister Sangma stated that the demand for amnesty by the HNLC was under examination and a final decision would be taken by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) and not the State Government. He added, “We are going into the peace talks with an open mind to find a solution. We will examine whatever is under constitutional provisions and how much we can accommodate.”
Notably, on June 24, 2023, tripartite peace talks between the Centre, the Meghalaya Government and the HNLC began at Umiam near Shillong in the Ri Bhoi District of Meghalaya. HNLC demanded the withdrawal of all criminal charges and sought amnesty for its cadres, to pave the way for successful talks. Sadon Blah, representing the HNLC asserted,
The general amnesty demanded includes withdrawal of all cases against the cadres, including a case against four top HNLC leaders who have been charge sheeted by the NIA. The general amnesty will pave the way for the peace negotiations to move forward.
After receiving the Government of India’s nod, peace talks between the HNLC and the Meghalaya Government were initiated on March 11, 2022.
Significantly, on September 6, 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed charge sheets at a NIA special court in Shillong against four HNLC terrorists identified as Bobby Marwein, Sainkupar Nongtraw, Marius Rynjah and Emmanuel Suchen, in connection with a blast that took place behind the staff quarters of Star Cement Factory Colony Lane in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills. Two persons were injured in the blast.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on insurgencies in the northeast, there have been a total of 52 HNLC-related fatalities in Meghalaya, including 30 HNLC cadres, 12 Security Force (SF) personnel and 10 civilians (data till August 10, 2023). 50 of these killings were reported between 2000 and 2009, a period during which at least one HNLC-linked killing was reported in each year, with the exception of year 2004. The remaining two HNLC-related killings were reported in 2019 and 2021: on May 12, 2019, HNLC militants shot at and injured Romeo Lyngdoh, a villager residing along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Lapalang village in East Khasi Hills District, who later succumbed to his injuries; and on August 13, 2021, Chesterfield Thangkhiew, former ‘general secretary’ of the HNLC, was killed in an encounter at his residence at Mawlai-Kynton Massar in Shillong, in the East Khasi Hills District.
The HNLC is a militant organisation operating in Meghalaya. It seeks to ‘liberate’ Meghalaya from the supposed dominance of outsiders and claims to represent the interest of the Khasis, the largest indigenous community in the state. It is a product of a 1992 split in the Hynniewtrep Achik Liberation Council (HALC), the first militant tribal outfit in Meghalaya. HNLC was proscribed on November 16, 2000, but the ban was later lifted, before it was reimposed in 2019. The HNLC mainly operates in the Khasi Hills area, although it has also engaged in a number of terrorist acts in Shillong.
Despite the Bangladesh Government’s major crackdowns on Indian insurgent groups since the Sheikh Hasina Government assumed power in Bangladesh in January 2009, the main HNLC leadership is still based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. According to a September 19, 2022, report, five representatives of the HNLC, who reportedly arrived in Meghalaya on August 5, returned to Bangladesh on September 16 after the peace talks with the Meghalaya Government. One of the five representatives, Sadon Blah disclosed that they had returned to Bangladesh for further consultations, before the further round of talks. Meanwhile, there are conflicting reports about the continued existence of HNLC camps in Bangladesh. While the Border Security Force (BSF) Meghalaya Frontier Deputy Inspector General (DIG), D. Haokip stated, on November 30, 2021, that the HNLC did not have any camps inside Bangladesh, days later, on December 30, 2021, BSF Inspector General, Inderjit Singh Rana, when asked about the HNLC camps in Bangladesh, said, “We don’t have the exact locations. We are trying to find out with our sister agencies and local police. Whenever we get the exact locations, we will share with the media and our counterparts in Bangladesh.”
HNLC has been accused by the Meghalaya government and State Police of engaging in a multitude of illegal activities in the Jaintia Hills coal belt, including killing, abduction, robbery, the smuggling of weaponry and cattle, as well as extortion. Additionally, it is suspected to have been working with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to circulate counterfeit money in the state. Indeed, while banning the outfit for the second time on November 18, 2019, the UMHA notification stated that HNLC, along with its factions and frontal organisations, had openly declared as its objective, the secession of the state’s areas, which are largely inhabited by Khasi and Jaintia tribals. Th notification also observed that HNLC continued to intimidate and bully civilians to extort funds, maintain links with other insurgent groups of the Northeast to carry out acts of extortion, and continues to have camps in Bangladesh to give sanctuary and training to its cadre.
After the complete decimation of the Garo-insurgent group, Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), in 2018, following the killing of GNLA founder, ‘commander’ Sohan D. Shira, on February 24, 2018, at Dobu A’chakpek in the East Garo Hills District, HNLC is the lone major active insurgent group left in the state. According to the SATP database, since Shira’s killing, Meghalaya has recorded four fatalities (one civilian and three militants). While HNLC’s role is suspected in the killing of the civilian on May 12, 2019, one of each of the three terrorists killed belonged to the I.K. Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-S), the United Achik Liberation Army (UALA) and HNLC. The last militant killing was reported on September 14, 2021, when the UALA cadre was killed.
According to state government data, the HNLC was suspected to be responsible for at least five of the seven Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts that occurred in Meghalaya between February 2018 and January 2022. The exact cause of the final two IED detonations is yet unknown. No violent incident has been reported in the State since January 2022.
In the present circumstances, a successful conclusion of the negotiations with the HNLC is likely to contribute to the establishment of long-term peace in the state, which experienced a high-level insurgency between 1992 and 2000 (when annual total fatalities were in the three digits) and a persistent low-level insurgency between 2001 and 2016 (when annual total fatalities stayed within two digits, and dropped to five in 2009). There were eight fatalities in 2017, seven in 2018, two in 2019, none in 2020, two in 2021 and none in 2022. Meghalaya is, thus, comparatively peaceful at present and with very little recent insurgent activity. Nevertheless, a successful peace process with HNLC is necessary for long-lasting peace in the state. The latest threat issued by the HNLC, however, is a worrying development and demonstrates that the government needs to be more cautious in its approach.