Newmai News Network Aizawl | September 22 The two day peace talks between the Mizoram government and Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic) which began on Thursday ended on positive note today in Aizawl with both sides hopeful of signing a peace agreement soon. It was the fifth and the last official level talks which began on August 10 last year to find amicable solution to the vexed Hmar political problems in Mizoram. With the culmination of the official level talks today, the next round of peace talks will be held at a political level, a senior officer in the Home department said. Additional Secretary in the Home department, Lalbiakzama, who headed the government delegation said that the parleys were held under a conducive atmosphere with complete mutual trust on both sides. He also said that both sides had worked out all the modalities for signing a peace accord on power, function and autonomy of the proposed Sinlung Hill Council. He added that the political level talks are likely to be held within this year though the precise date for talks is yet to be decided. Meanwhile, HPC (D) spokesperson Lalthalien told Newmai News Network today that they had widely deliberated and approved in principle the drafts of Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) and Sinlung Hills Council Bill during the two-day talks, and also resolved to put up the same for the final approval by the state government and the Hmar Inpui (Hmar apex body). He added that both sides also resolved that any rectification required in the drafts shall be deliberated and finalized at the next round of the political level talks. “We also discussed rehabilitation package and detailed plan for HPC(D) cadres during today’s talks,” he said, adding that the HPC(D) delegation will submit the final list of HPC (D) cadres to be approved in the next round of talks. According to the HPC-D spokesperson, a consultative meeting with the Hmar people based organizations under the aegis of Hmar Inpui will soon be convened to deliberate on the drafts of Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) and Sinlung Hills Council Bill. The peace talks between Mizoram government and HPC (D) were revived in August last year, 3 years after it had ended in a deadlock over extension of period of Suspension of Operation (SoO) in 2013. So far, both sides had held talks on five occasions with the first round of talks being held in Aizawl on August 10 last year. This was followed by another two rounds of talks in 2016 (October 5 and December 16). On December 16, 2016, HPC(D) returned arms and ammunition taken from Mizoram police. The fourth round of peace talks were held on April 28, 2017.