Bihar government ready for talks with Maoists

PATNA - The Bihar government is ready for talks with the Maoists, if they are eager for it, a top state government official said here Saturday.

Bihar Principal Secretary of home department Amir Subhani said: “The government is ready for talks if the Maoists come forward for a dialogue. The government will not go back on its stand.”

Subhani said till now no proposal for talks had been made by the Maoists.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said earlier that the Operation Green Hunt planned by the central government against the Maoists will not be launched in Bihar. He added that aggressive police operation was not the solution to the Maoist problem.

In the most recent Maoist attack in the state, at least 11 people, including two women and a child, were killed in Jamui district late Wednesday night.

According to police sources, 33 of 40 districts in Bihar are Maoist infested.