"Overground" HNLC Chairman will be tried as per law, Lapang

Shillong, July, 31 (UNI) Julius Dorphang, the Chairman of banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council, will be tried as the per the law of the land, Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang said.

Dorphang, who came overground last week from a hideout in Bangladesh to join the national mainstream, is ready to face the consequences.

"We will discuss the matter in the Cabinet on the issue of granting amnesty to Dorphang,'' Mr Lapang told reporters here yesterday soon after his arrival from New Delhi.

Mr Lapang had briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Union Home and the Defence Minister, besides UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Dorphang eschewing the path of violence to join the national mainstream.

Asked whether the HNLC Chairman along with four others had surrender in the wake of Dorphang's claims that he is still the Chairman of the tribal Khasi militant outfit, the Chief Minister said, ''Dorphang had joined the mainstream and not surrendered.'' ''Dorphang was a leader who could bring others to the negotiating table. We are sure that he will inspire others to join the mainstream,'' he asserted.

The top HNLC militant leader, who was forced to come overground over the difference on the peace process with HNLC 'General Secretary' Chesterfield Thangkiew and Commander-in-Chief Bobby Marwein, had vowed before Chief Minister D D Lapang that he would abjure the path of violence, claimed that he was still keen to negotiate the proposed peace process with the Centre and Meghalaya government.

UNI