A top Maoist guerrilla leader in India has offered a ceasefire and talks with the government if it calls off a crackdown against the rebels. The government said it would consider the offer, but wants it in writing.
The offer made late on Monday by Kishenji, a senior Maoist leader in eastern India, came days after the rebels killed 24 police in a brazen attack on a security camp in West Bengal state.
“Our revolutionary violence will stay on hold for as long as state terror is put on hold,” Kishenji said in a statement to NDTV in the eastern state of Orissa.
If the government puts “violence on hold, not for 72 hours but for 72 days, then we will immediately stop our revolutionary violence,” Kishenji said.
That would require the government to halt its Operation Green Hunt offensive — aimed at flushing the militants out of their forest hide-outs — from tomorrow until May 7.
Kishenji also called for “liberal intellectuals and human rights groups” to mediate talks between the rebels and the government.
In a press statement, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said he wanted the rebels to provide “a short, simple statement” before responding to their offer.
“I would like no ‘ifs,’ no ‘buts’ and no conditions. Once I receive the statement, I shall consult the prime minister and other colleagues and respond promptly,” Chidambaram said.
Inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), the rebels have fought for more than four decades demanding land and jobs for farmers and the poor. About 2,000 people — including police, militants and civilians — have been killed in the past few years.
The rebels, who have tapped into the rural poor’s growing anger at being left out of the country’s economic gains, are now present in 20 of the country’s 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called them “India’s biggest internal security threat.”
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