"They have a programme which, I have to admit, has some very progressive elements and I do not think there should be any difficulty in the establishment accepting them," Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said of the Maoists in New Delhi.

"And they have to be convinced that they cannot win an armed struggle and that their bargaining power would diminish if they continued with their agitation for long," Saran told a seminar on Nepal, which adjoins India.

Saran said Kathmandu will have to offer assurances in a bid to win the confidence of the rebels. More than 10,000 people have died since the Maoists took up arms in 1996 intent on toppling the king of the Himalayan nation.

"Certain assurances such as a level-playing field have to be given to them and some parts of their programme accepted to convince the Maoists to come to the political mainstream and participate in elections," he said.

Nepalese political parties and the monarchy, between whom there was a "lack of trust and confidence" seemed to be thinking that by striking deals with the Maoists, they could marginalise the other side, he said.

"The Maoists have been playing off one institution against the other to advance their own interests," Saran said.

"The Maoists are seeing a fractured polity in Nepal. The political parties, in their rivalry, do not seem to understand that the need now is to rise above their differences to ensure that the multi-party system survives," he said.

The foreign secretary called for "aggressive and proactive" border patrolling by Nepalese security forces and said India will have to match the exercise on its side of the frontier "so that pressure is mounted on Maoists to return to peace talks."