Tuesday, December 21 2004 17:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: Assuring security to foreign nationals and establishments in his country, Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has asked the international community to put pressure on Maoists in order to bring them to the negotiating table.

"The Government has made repeated calls to the Maoists to come to talks and we are prepared to discuss any agenda with the rebels," Prime Minister Deuba to the heads of diplomatic missions in Kathmandu yesterday (Dec 20, 2004).

Deuba called on heads of the missions to build a collective pressure upon the Maoists for bringing them to the dialogue table.

The Government will guarantee security to the Maoist negotiators if they come for talks, he said.

He assured the international community that the Government was equally cautious about ensuring security to foreign nationals, foreign-aided development projects and joint venture industries, including Indians, State owned 'Radio Nepal' reported.

Security forces have achieved remarkable success in counter-insurgency operations and have tremendously reduced the capability of the Maoists to launch major attacks, Deuba claimed.

It would be most unfortunate if the Maoists loose this opportunity for talks as the present Government is by far the most broad-based regime, he said.