Aizawl, April 9 The Mizoram government is set to sign a peace accord with the faction led by Lalhmingthanga Sanate of the Hmar People's Convention (Democratic), or HPC(D), on April 14, an official said on Thursday.
This group is the last active insurgent faction in the state.
This was announced during a high-level meeting on Thursday, chaired by Home Minister K Sapdanga in Aizawl, to finalize the logistical roadmap for the return of HPC-D cadres, the official said.
According to preliminary plans, the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) will be signed between the state Home Secretary, representing the Mizoram government, and HPC(D) president Lalhmingthanga Sanate, on behalf of the group, at Sakawrdai village in Aizawl district, located in the northeastern part of the state bordering Manipur, on the designated date, he said.
The event will be witnessed by the Adviser to the Chief Minister (Political) and MLA Lalmuanpuia Punte and other important officials, he said.
Thursday's meeting, attended by senior police officers and officials from the Home, Law, Finance, and Information departments, decided that members of the group will move to temporary housing or camps to be arranged by the state government after the signing of the agreement until the arms lay down ceremony to be held at a police's Central Training Institute in Sesawng, about 40 km from Aizawl on April 30, he said.
The site for the temporary camps is being identified, and it will be finalized this weekend, he said.
According to the official, 43 cadres of HPC(D) will surrender during the homecoming ceremony to transition back into mainstream society.
The Sanate-led faction of HPC(D) is the last of three Hmar insurgent groups that has spearheaded a political movement in Mizoram since 1986.
Their primary demand has been the creation of an Autonomous District Council (ADC) under the Sixth Schedule for Hmar-populated areas in northern and northeastern Mizoram.
While Hmar is one of the dominant tribes among the Mizos, some Hmar leaders led by J Laldinliana, who hailed from west Mizoram's Mamit district, founded Hmar People's Convention (HPC) in Aizawl in 1986.
The group initially functioned as a political platform to spearhead a movement for self-determination for the Hmar community, which has a distinct culture and dialect, like the Mara and Lai people in southern Mizoram.
The HPC eventually turned to armed insurgency in May 1987 when a series of peaceful protests yielded little or no results.
After seven years of insurgency, the HPC, then headed by Hmingchungnunga, signed a peace accord with the Mizoram government on 27 July 1994, leading to the establishment of Sinlung Hills Development Council (SHDC) comprising 31 villages in northern and northeastern Mizoram bordering Assam and Manipur.
However, dissatisfied with the 1994 accord, members of HPC, who did not come overground in 1994, formed HPC(D) under the leadership of Sanate to resume the demand for ADC in Mizoram.
The HPC(D) has spearheaded political movements not only in Mizoram, but also in Manipur and Assam.
The Assam region of HPC(D) had recently signed an accord with the Assam government to pave the way for the creation of "Hmar Welfare and Development Council" covering entire Hmar villages in Assam, while its Manipur region is currently under SoO with the Centre and Manipur government, along with other armed Kuki groups.
The HPC(D), however, was split into two groups- Chairman and President- after Sanate was impeached for signing a Suspension of Operation (SoO) in Manipur with other Kuki armed groups in 2011.
Led by H. Zosangabera, the Chairman group, which was considered more genuine by the Hmar community, signed a peace accord with the Mizoram government on 2 April, 2018.
That pact, which saw the coming of 114 cadres to the overground, resulted in the establishment of the Sinlung Hills Council (SHC) under the SHC Act, 2018, with enhanced autonomy to replace the existing SHDC.
The Sanate-led faction remained outside the peace process.
Although the group initially resumed the ADC demand, it gradually dwindled and resorted to sporadic criminal activities, including extortion, in Hmar-dominated villages in northern and northeastern Mizoram, primarily operating from bases in Assam's Cachar district.