Home Minister Dharma Bahadur Thapa Friday called Maoists terrorists in strong and unequivocal terms. “The simple fact is that they are terrorists and so that is what they are called. They will be called terrorists and the term can only be withdrawn after an environment is set for dialogue,” Saturday’s editions of newspapers quoted Thapa as saying.

The government has not received any formal offer for  peace talks from the Maoists. “The government will not accept statements issued to newspapers as authorized statements,” he reportedly said.

The strong government position comes as students affiliated with Maoists have demanded withdrawal of the “terrorist” tag as a pre-condition for the calling off an indefinite strike of  schools in Kathmandu Valley.

The Home Ministry earlier denied some newspaper reports quoting Thapa as saying the government was ready to withdraw the terrorist label on the Maoists put by the former government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The fresh statement is seen as a hardening of the government position against Maoists before talks.