Representatives of the Hmar community living in the north eastern part of the state adjoining Manipur state told mediapersons today that Lal Thanhawla had informed them on Thursday of his willingness to negotiate with leaders of the Hmar outfit.
The leaders of the Coordination Committee of Village Councils within the Sinlung Hills Development Council urged the chief minister to initiate peace talks with the HPC-D as they were suffering from severe hardship due to armed insurgency for many years.
Sources close to the chief minister, however, said that the government would talk to the insurgents only if they came forward and the government was not keen to take the initiative to open the parleys.
HPC-D was formed in the wake of the surrender of 308 Hmar People's Convention (HPC) cadres along with arms to the state government in 1997 by Lalhmingthanga Sanate, the then Assistant General Secretary of the outfit.