Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has used the world Buddhist summit under way at the birthplace of the Buddha to urge Maoist insurgents to give up violence and start peace talks.
The World Buddhist Summit that began in Lumbini Tuesday saw the Maoists - who have been waging an eight-year-old guerrilla war - announce a cessation of hostilities during the summit being attended by delegates from 26 countries.
The Maoists also withdrew a 48-hour shutdown called in Rupandehi district, where Lumbini is located.
The closure, to have been started Tuesday, was called to protest the killing of three Maoist cadres by security forces.
The spontaneous offer of cessation of hostilities comes after the Nepalese government failed to persuade the rebels to resume peace negotiations and said it would proceed with preparations to hold parliamentary elections if the rebels did not start talks by Jan 13.
After the summit was officially inaugurated by Nepal's King Gyanendra Wednesday and messages were read out from the presidents of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka as well as the king of Bhutan, Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in his welcome address said he was making a "clarion call for peace".
With the country ravaged by violence and insurgency, he said, the government was eager to start a dialogue for a negotiated peace settlement and said it had kept the doors open for talks.
Indiscriminate killing of people, abduction of school children, extortion, bomb blasts and destruction would not bring a political change but only breed further antagonism, he said.
He was referring to the Maoists' "people's war" that has left over 10,000 people dead and displaced thousands.
Asking the guerrillas, who have been targeting security forces as well as political workers, teachers, journalists and health workers, to honour the right of every citizen to life, Deuba said there was no alternative to peace and dialogue.
Besides the Maoist announcement of a temporary truce, the Deuba government, which was facing a revolt in its own ranks, was heartened by its major coalition partner, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, deciding not to quit the cabinet.
The summit will end Thursday with a Lumbini declaration expected to see the construction of an international airport and a Buddhist university. The first World Buddhist Summit was held in 1998.
--Indo-Asian News Service