Nepali Maoists reject PM's deadline

"The government deadline for talks has tarnished the prospects for peace dialogue and made it more complicated," the chairman of the Nepal Communist Party-Maoist (NCP-M) Puspa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachand, said in a statement late Saturday.

"The deadline for peace talks ... is nothing but a deep-rooted conspiracy to stick to power and to serve the reactionary forces," he added.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said Thursday the government would go ahead with planned general elections if the rebels refused to come to the talks table but set no date for polls

More than 10,000 people have died since the Maoists took up arms in 1996 to topple the king in the Himalayan nation.

Deuba was named premier by King Gyanendra in June with a mandate to hold peace talks with the rebels and stage general elections.

But he told reporters Thursday the government's patience was running out and unless the rebels agreed to peace talks by January 13, the process for holding elections would be set in motion.

The rebels are holding out for direct talks with the king and want the negotiations to include their call for elections for an assembly to draft a new constitution that eventually envisages setting up a communist state.

In his statement, Prachand reiterated his previous position that the rebels are prepared to hold peace talks only under international mediation and provided constituent assembly elections are held in a free and peaceful atmosphere.