Hmar People’s Convention (R) forms alliance with MNF before polls

In Mizoram, the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) and a faction of the HPC party, the Hmar People’s Convention (Reformation), formed an alliance on Saturday ahead of the November 7 assembly polls in the state.
An agreement for the alliance was signed by MNF general secretary Lalmuanthanga Fanai and HPC(R) general secretary HT Vunga.
According to the agreement, the two parties will work together in the upcoming assembly elections and the HPC(R) will fully support and try to ensure that MNF candidates are fielded in the three Hmar people-majority constituencies – Tuivawl, In Chalfilh and Sinlung-. The Sinlung Hills Council area is elected.
The MNF, if it retains power, will take steps to implement the 2018 Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) between the then Mizoram government and the erstwhile underground organization Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic), both Officials of the parties said.
The agreement states that if the MNF returns to power, the government will provide “rehabilitation and other welfare benefits including jobs to the families of those who lost their lives during the insurgency and former HPC(D) cadres”.
The government will also provide a special package for the development of the Sunlong Hills Council and the two parties will also unite in next year’s local elections.
Earlier in August, another Rohingya-led HPC faction formed an electoral alliance with the main opposition party Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) in Mizoram to work together in the upcoming assembly elections.
A section of HPC party leaders took up arms for five years between 1989 and 1994, demanding the formation of an autonomous district council from the Hamar-dominated areas in the northeastern part of Mizoram, bordering Manipur.
The rebel group signed a peace accord with the previous Congress government in 1994, which led to the establishment of a Development Council for the Hamar people.
Unhappy with the Development Council, the HPC (D), an offshoot of the HPC, continued the rebel movement until it signed an accord with the Mizoram government in April 2018. The 2018 peace accord gave birth to the SHC for our people.