A pickup truck hit the pilot car of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma’s convoy at Upper Shillong on Saturday, police said.
Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma’s convoy was involved in a minor accident on Saturday when a pickup truck collided with the pilot car at Upper Shillong. Fortunately, the Chief Minister and his security personnel remained unharmed. The collision caused slight damage to both vehicles, according to police officials. The accident occurred while Sangma was traveling to Dawki town near the India-Bangladesh border for an official event.
The authorities are investigating the cause of the accident. No injuries were reported, and the Chief Minister continued his journey to Dawki as planned, as per news agency IANS.
Meghalaya Ready To Have Peace Talks With Banned Outfit, Says Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister
Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) state president Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday said that the Centre and State government are ready to have peace talks with the top leaders of the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) outside Meghalaya.
His statement came five days after the outfit’s chairman and commander-in-chief Bobby Marwein and general secretary-cum-publicity secretary, Sainkupar Nongtraw, expressed their inability to participate in the discussion until the government was ready to drop all pending cases against them and sign a ceasefire agreement.
In February last year,Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma held a discussion with Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla over the issue of peace talks with the banned militant outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC).
“Following the required process to take forward the peace talks with HNLC, met the Home Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs to discuss the same. The Government of Meghalaya is committed to see this through,” Sangma tweeted after the meeting.
The move comes days after the HNLC offered to sit down for peace talks with the Central and Meghalaya state governments without any pre-conditions. The outlawed militant made the announcement through a press release.
On February 8, 2022, in a statement issued by HNLC general secretary-cum-publicity secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw said that the organization has decided to give peace a chance after receiving a lot of requests from elders and social organisations over the past few days.
“After consultations with some elders recently, we have decided to come to a peaceful agreement with the GOM (Government of Meghalaya) and the GOI (Government of India),” the militant group had said, adding, “As of now, we are ready to talk within the ambit of the Indian constitution and we are ready to have talks without any pre-conditions.
“HNLC did not, however, mention whether they would consider relinquishing arms and armed attacks.
(With inputs from agencies)