Shillong, Aug. 4: The Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) of Meghalaya today warned other militant groups against “aggravating the situation in West Khasi Hills and in other parts of the land of U Hynniewtrep (the Khasis) by intimidating, extorting, taxing and evacuating our people”.

The outfit’s chairman, Julius Dorphang, said some militant groups of the “Southeast Himalayan region” had become “enemies of the Hynniewtrep people” and would not be spared. “For this act of treason, we are compelled to hunt them down where they are. Let it be known to all and sundry that we will never part with even an inch of our land to usurpers.”

The HNLC chief reserved the strongest words for his outfit’s Garo hills counterpart, the Achik National Volunteers’ Council (ANVC).

Describing the ANVC’s movement for a “greater Garoland” as an “unacceptable” proposition, Dorphang said the statements made by the group’s general secretary about its aspirations had no meaning from a political or historical perspective.

He said the Garo community needed to do some introspection before supporting the ANVC. “As the majority of the Garo inhabitants are immigrants from Bangladesh, if they want to be accepted by the Hynniewtrep people, they must first learn to work in close harmony with our beloved people against the so-called leaders of the Achik people,” he said.

The militant leader dismissed media reports quoting defence sources as saying that the HNLC was willing to start a dialogue with Delhi.

“We want to make it clear that till date none of our members have made contact or have been authorised to contact any representative of the Indian government or its agents. Therefore, such claims made therein were and are still absolutely baseless and unfounded. We will not keep our people in the dark even if such a development occurs, as the will of the people is our guiding principle,” he stressed.

On speculation about whether the HNLC is contemplating peace talks, Dorphang said his outfit would not exercise this option until there was a possibility of an “honourable” solution. He said it was still premature to even speculate about talks.

The HNLC leader described the D.D. Lapang government as “a bunch of marauding bandits” and accused them of investing a major portion of their “disproportionate and dubious incomes” outside the state. He said the government had turned a blind eye to the problems arising out of demands made by “expansionist elements of the Garos, Karbis and Assamese” in Meghalaya.

“Instead, it panders to their whims by indulging their every act of vandalism and terrorism against our own flesh and blood while being all out to annihilate members of our organisation at every possible opportunity, including embedding the media with misinformation,” he added.

BJP conclave

The fourth northeastern zone conference of the BJP began here today with state party chief W. Kharshiing targeting the Congress government in Assam for criticism.

“We are meeting here even as several states of the region are going through political upheavals,” he said before indulging in some Congress-bashing.

“It is a pity that the Tarun Gogoi government has mismanaged funds allocated by the Centre for the flood-hit state,” he said.