Surrendered insurgent groups from Karbi Anglong unhappy with Assam Govt’s attitude on peace accord

DIPHU

Five militant organisations of Karbi Anglong, who had recently surrendered before the Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on February 23, expressed unhappiness over the draft presented to them from the government for signing of the peace accord.

It may be mentioned that the Karbi Longri, NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF), Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT) led by Chairman, Donri Kramsa and another KPLT faction led by Chairman, Ron Rongpi, United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA), People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK), Kuki Liberation Front (KLF), surrendered before Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal during the arms laying down ceremony held at Srimanta Shankardeva Kalakhetra International Auditorium, Guwahati on February 23.

Speaking to the media, Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT)foreign secretary, John Tandon Bey, alias Rex Ting-eh said, “For maintaining peace we have laid arms on February 23 at Guwahati. But we were not satisfied with the draft presented to us for the peace accord, as there was no mention of the Autonomous State issue, which is the longstanding demand of the people of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao. In the draft, the same points of the Memorandum of understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) were mentioned. If Article 244 (A) is implemented, then all-round development will be in it. With only this much we are not satisfied and we reject the government’s offer for the signing of the peace accord so we came away.”

“For the signing of any accord, sufficient time should be given to study what is inside the draft. But the draft was given to us on the day we surrendered arms. We did not get time to study the draft,” Bey added.

Reportedly, the surrendered militant groups refused to sign the peace accord as it did not mention their core demand for granting of Autonomous State under Article 244 (A) of the Indian constitution.

(Edited by Christopher Gatphoh)

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