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In an interview with CNN, Mahara, who was twice rumoured to have been killed, said, "We are not terrorists and that is clear. We want to tell the media that we are against terrorism. We are not a terrorist force. We have a proper political thought to serve the people, to liberate the people, to establish a society based on equality in the country..."
Mahara, who carries a price of $65,000 on his head, condemned all forms of terrorism and said, "Terrorism is what a few people do for their own selfish reasons, but we are a political force."
He said just like the US "branded the Al Qaeda and the Taliban as terrorists to wage a war on them", the Nepal government categorised the Maoist movement as "terrorism because they want to get rid of us".
On the Nepal government's charge that the Maoists had children among their ranks, the rebel leader said, "These are baseless allegations. We have no children in our fighting force. We do not admit anyone below 18 in our army."
He said the allegation that Maoists were killing civilians were also false. "In fact the government is responsible for all those killings. They kill those innocent people just because they support our cause. The Nepalese government claims to have killed four thousand Maoists. But the truth is that more than 80 per cent of them were innocent civilians. We have only killed the criminal elements of our society..."
Asked if he had any proof that the government was killing civilians and Maoist sympathisers, he said, "We have loads of evidence against the government... seven people were killed in Kabri district some time ago... but they had no arms and ammunitions; they were just innocent musicians.
"The rulers in today's world are all mad. They have no ideology. They have nothing to offer to the public and end up taking all the wrong decisions about any movement or any organisation.
"This does not surprise or anger us but, of course, disgusts us, and the disgust and the hate that we have for them gives us the power to fight."
He said the rulers of Nepal had compelled them to rebel and the fight could stop "in a minute" if the government listened to their grievances.
Peace would prevail if the ruling class empowered the people, Mahara said. "We want them to decentralise all their powers to the people of this nation."
"We have demanded an interim government and constituent assembly. Whatever the people decide we are willing to accept... The government is not agreeing to our proposal for a constituent assembly because they know that they'll lose. They just have the support of the army and certain pimps in position of power. The common man is against them."
He said the Maoists had called for a dialogue time and again, but "the reason why the government is opposing talks is that they are preparing for a fully-fledged war".
"We are ready to redefine our army and make it into a national army, because the army that exists right now is just serving the king. Their rule is illegal, our war is legal."
The king would not have dissolved parliament if he were in favour of democracy, the rebel leader added.
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