SHILLONG, March 15 � Former IB chief PC Haldar, the Centre�s interlocutor for talks with the banned Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), today arrived here for holding negotiations with the Garo militant group.
Official sources said Haldar is likely to hold the first round of talks with the group in Tura, the headquarter town of West Garo Hills, as demanded by ANVC.
The banned group, which had entered into a tripartite ceasefire with the Centre and the State in 2004, had threatened to break the truce if the Centre failed to come up with a �workable solution� to its demands.
The ANVC said it is not happy with the Centre�s decision to extend the ceasefire periodically instead of continuing it indefinitely. Faced with the threat by the group to unilaterally end the ceasefire, Chief Minister D D Lapang had rushed his deputy Mukul Sangma on March 11 to New Delhi to impress upon the Centre on the need for extension of ceasefire with the tribal militant group before its March 31 expiry.
Last September, the group decided to keep its demand for a separate State for Garos in abeyance for the time being. Instead, it put forward the demand for the creation of Garoland Autonomous Council.
While around 80 cadres of the group are overground, police say there are a few who have deserted the group and are still in the jungles with some arms. � PTI
