KATHMANDU - The Maoists engaged in a ten-year-old armed insurgency to set up a communist republic in Nepal on Saturday announced the cessation of violence for three months beginning on Saturday.In a statement faxed to media offices, the top Maoist leader Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said that his party announced the ceasefire in deference to the peopleâs âaspiration for peace and democracyâ.
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The Maoists hoped that the ceasefire would âmotivate both national and international forces who want to see peace in Nepal and encourage them to take new initiatives to end the current political crisis in the countryâ, the statement said.
The Maoist statement said the Maoists would not undertake any offensive activities with effect from Saturday but added that the Maoists would âremain in a position of active defence and resist if there is an offensive from the side of the enemy (the government)â.