Kathmandu, June 19:

US ambassador to Nepal James F Moriarty today said his country’s stance on Maoists here will not change and that there was no immediate plans to hold talks with them.

“The Maoists need to change their behaviour and the US would continue to adopt the same policy to pressure Maoists to end violence,” Moriarty told this daily after a function organised by the Dalit Welfare Association to felicitate him and his wife Lauren.

The envoy was responding to a query if the US plans to change its policy on Maoists after former US President Jimmy Carter’s recent visit to Nepal and meeting with the Maoist leadership.

Carter had said that the government of the United States should establish communications with the Maoists at some political level.

According to Moriarty, the US will not talk to the Maoists because that would send a wrong message. The wrong message would be that the Maoists need not change. “We want them to change their behaviour, and the YCL (Young Communist League) has to change its behaviour too,” Moriarty said. At the programme, the Moriarty couple said that the problems of the marginalised people, including the dalits, should be addressed.

“If you do not speak, no one will hear you, and if you do not act, none will act for you. Those who have suffered should act for peaceful, democratic and prosperous future for Nepal,” said Lauren.

Moriarty will complete his tenure in Nepal in July. Nancy J Powell has been nominated to succeed him.