Shillong: The interlocutor for peace talk between the proscribe Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) on Tuesday informed that talks are going smoothly but no official formal talks yet between the HNCL, State Government and the central.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Blah informed that the talk were in an informal process and hauled for 2-3 months because of the election.

Blah deferred to make comments on any agenda(s) put by the HNCL and said that no talks will be “unconditional”. He informed that the standstill agreement and Instrument of Accession (IO) is very much part of the negotiation.

“Talks cannot be 100 per cent unconditional, if it is then we don’t need to talk. There are agendas like Political agendas and other issues concerning the stand of the HNLC which have been there for the last 35-37 years”, said Blah.

Asked on when the formal process of peace talk will begin, Blah said that as of now he cannot put any dateline and since it has been a struggle for almost 40 years, they do not want to take any hasty steps. However, the delay to start the peace talks is due to some issues regarding the technicalities of the peace talks and the technicalities were not matters to be decided only by the HNLC and State Government since it also involved the Ministry of Home Affairs, said Blah.

Blah said right now the focus is on the talks and the process to move forward and however denied to make any comment on the actual strength of the HNLC.