Aizawl, Apr 9 : All the 18 members of the Sinlung Hills Development Council (SHDC), including its chairman Lalmalsawma Darngawn, have submitted their resignation to Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla, Darngawn said here today. Darngawn said that they tendered their resignations after being instructed to do so by the Hmar People's Convention - Democrats militants and to show their solidarity with the Manipur-based Hmar militant group. "We resigned after being told not to function during the talks being held between the Mizoram government and the HPC-D," he said, adding that they submitted their resignations to Lal Thanhawla on March four and submitted a copy to the state governor Lt. General (retd) M M Lakhera on March six. He said they were yet to be intimated on whether their resignations were accepted by the government or not. The resignations of the SHDC members seemed to be the fallout of the peace talks between the state government and the Hmar militant group as the parleys were deadlocked over the representation in the HPC-D delegation. During the talks held on November 11, 2010, it was agreed to have bilateral Suspension of Operations (SoO) for six months and also to have more rounds of negotiations. However, the proposed parleys in January and March could not be held due to differences between the two sides and the state government alleged that it could not accept inclusion of a US citizen in the HPC-D delegation while the militant group denied that they had intention to do so. SHDC was formed in the Hmar inhabited area adjoining Manipur following an agreement reached between the state government and the erstwhile underground HPC in 1997.~PTI
