Mizoram CM urges NLFT to hold talks with Govt

AGARTALA, April 6: After his effort to initiate peace process in Nagaland, now Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has taken steps to bring outlawed militant organisation National Liberation Front of Twipra (NLFT) to path of peace. The Mizoram Chief Minister on Thursday told a group of visiting reporters from Tripura that he had held preliminary talks with the NLFT leadership in an attempt to bring them to negotiation table. "Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has requested me to take some initiative for peace talks with NLFT", said the militant leader turned Chief Minister. "I had meetings with a group of NLFT leaders but they seemed reluctant to sit in the negotiation table with the government. However, I am trying my best to bring peace in the region", said the former militant leader indicating that he would keep on pursuing the NLFT to negotiate with the government. The Mizoram Chief Minister, however, remained noncommittal on the Reang refugee repatriation issue. He made it clear unless and until Bru National Liberation Front militants surrender, there would be no taking back of the Reang refugees now sheltered in six camps in North Tripura district. The Reangs had fled from Mizoram following fierce ethnic clashes between Mizos and Reangs in October, 1996. Zoramthanga said the Bru (Reang) militants were trying to sabotage the Reang refugee repatriation process because they are surviving on the refugees' rehabilitation packages. He, however, said that the BNLF militants had also sent a feeler for peace talks with Mizoram government.