Militants of Manipur-based HPC(D) are scheduled to lay down arms on April 12 following the inking of a memorandum of settlement between the outfit and the Mizoram government on Monday, a senior state home department official said.
Additional Secretary for Home Lalbiakzama told PTI that 103 Hmar People's Convenction (Democratic) militants would be laying down arms at a programme on April 12 at the Central Training Institute (CTI) near Sesawng village in Aizawl district, headquarters of the Mizoram Home Guards.
The MoS also stipulates that the state government would grant amnesty to all the HPC(D) cadres having criminal cases in the state and take steps for relief and rehabilitation/ex-gratia for the cadres hailing from Mizoram when they come over ground.
Those convicted of any such offences would be granted remission of sentences and investigations of all the cases against the members of the group in the state would be dropped forthwith, he said.
The accord signed between the then HPC and the state government in 1994 mainly revolved around establishment of Sinlung Hills Council (SHC) by an act of the state legislature.
As per the provisions of the MoS, the existing Sinlung Hills Development Council (SHDC) would be rechristened as Sinlung Hills Council (SHC) by an act of state legislature.
It will be accorded administrative autonomy within the framework agreed upon by both the parties, in the sphere of socio-economic, political and cultural development of the people under the jurisdiction of the SHC.
The HPC(D) was formed by Lalhmingthanga Sinate, after the HPC cadres laid down arms following the 1994 accord and continued to demand a separate autonomous district council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for the Hmar community concentrated in the north eastern part of the state adjoining Manipur.
The outfit split into two factions - headed by H. Zosangbera and the other by Sanate and were at loggerheads since then.
Sanate was recently arrested by the Assam Police for alleged murder of Norbar Sanate, finance secretary of the Zosangbera faction.
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