PC makes fresh offer for talks with Naxals

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) India's Home Minister P
Chidambaram Tuesday made a fresh offer to hold talks with
Naxals if they "suspend" violence even for just 72 hours, a
day after Maoists unleashed another attack in Chhattisgarh.
"Maoists should say 'We will abjure violence. We will
suspend violence and actually suspend violence for 72
hours'. We will get the Chief Ministers on board. We will
respond. We will fix a date, time and place for talks and let
the Maoists come for the talks on anything they wish to talk,"
Chidambaram told CNN-IBN. Maoists blew up a bus killing at
least 36 people near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh state in
central India on Monday.
Chidambaram said CPI(Maoist) never responded "seriously"
to the offer of talks. "They are indulging in gimmickery I am
afraid media plays up that gimmick," he said.
Asked whether government forces will also halt all
operations against them during the period of ceasefire, the
Home Minister responded, "That goes without saying".
Chidambaram said "if they observe complete suspension of
violence for just 72 hours, it goes without saying that police
will not take any action against any CPI(Maoist) activist,
hideouts or camps."
He said complete suspension means there should not be any
attack on infrastructure, any landmine blast or any
targetting of telephone towers.
On the issue of Hindu extremists, the Home Minister said
there are evidence pointing to various groups which are
supported by extreme right Hindu fundamentalist group.
"Don't call Hindu terrorist. A terrorist is a terrorist.
Except in this case, the terrorist subscribe to extreme
funamentalist Hindu philosophy. We feel that there are
evidence to the Ajmer Blast, Mecca Masjid Blast and
investigating agencies are closely following the trail that we
have stumbled upon or discovered," he said.
The Home Minister said investigation alone will show
whether the dots are being rightly connected to that one
organisation or to different organisations woking in
coordination. PTI