Calling for a truce between Maoists and the government, Senior Security Adviser in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and former DGP of Tamil Nadu K Vijay Kumar opined that Maoists should lay down their arms and fight democratically for the rights of tribal people.

Briefing media persons in Coimbatore on Sunday, Vijay Kumar said that a solution can never be arrived at through the use of weapons, but only through diplomatic means.

“We hear that the Maoist movement is gaining in numbers as youth who go astray are joining them,” he said, adding that the movement has further gained strength on the borders of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala over the last four years.

“In Tamil Nadu, they are moving between Ooty, Gudalur and Coimbatore, and in Palakkad, Malappuram, Wayanad, Thrissur and Kannur,in Kerala,” said the former top cop. Vijaya Kumar said that the State governments have also strengthened its forces in these places to monitor their movement.

He further opined that a joint effort by the Special Task Force and the governments of the three States could put an end to the armed struggle. He also said that the needs of the people in the tribal areas needed to be identified and addressed.

Meanwhile, reports have claimed that a group of Maoists have camped near the Agali forest region in Coimbatore.