NEW DELHI: Chhattisgarh deputy CM Vijay Sharma on Saturday said govt was willing to positively consider the CPI(Maoist) offer to lay down arms and start peace negotiations, but the outfit must immediately stop civilian killings and remove IEDs it had planted across its areas of influence.“The CPI(Maoist) letter issued by its spokesperson Abhay was written on August 15 but issued a month later. But even after August 15, there have been killings of two shikshadoots (temporary, visiting teachers), on August 27 in Bijapur and on August 29 in Sukma. On September 2, two more civilians were killed by Maoists in Sukma,” he said.The CPI(Maoist) offer to suspend armed ‘struggle’ and the wanton killing of civilians and IED ambushes cannot go together. The leadership must first instruct its cadres on the ground to end civilian killings and de-mine the network of IEDs they have planted,” Chhattisgarh deputy CM Vijay Sharma told TOI.Inspector general, Bastar range, P Sunderraj added that it would take Maoists no more than a week to deactivate the IEDs — laid across ‘core areas’ in the Dandakaranya region and on Bihar-Jharkhand border —if such a directive was issued by the top leadership.The Chhattisgarh deputy CM said the final call on CPI(Maoist)’s peace offer will be taken by the top political leadership, comprising the prime minister and home minister, after careful consideration and due consultation with all the stakeholders.“We are ready to welcome Maoists with open arms if they choose to come forward, including starting with a video call, and lay down arms; we will ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration into the mainstream,” said the Chattisgarh deputy CM.For the time being, he underlined, there is no directive to the counter-Naxal forces to scale down operations.As per intelligence reports, a secret meeting had purportedly taken place in Aug among a few top CPI(Maoist) leaders, including Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias ‘Abhay’. Thippiri Tirupathi, alias Devji, the new general secretary after the neutralisation of Basavaraju in May, had attended the meeting, a source claimed. The discussions were focused on the crackdown by the forces in their old pocket boroughs and the way forward. “We are still evaluating if Devji is on the same page as Abhay on laying down arms,” a senior intelligence officer said.
