Paramendra, so what's new beyond the usual "let's replace the King because he is khattam but, hey, everything will be hunky-dory after he is gone -- just trust me on this" hypothesis? Isn't this pretty much what Nepe's been preaching since God was a child? Surely, the King has lots of faults, but I am beginning to suspect that this ritual blaming the King for everything appears more of a cop-out strategy of non-Kathmandu-based (i.e. village-grown) elites -- who may now be living and working abroad -- to vent their frustrations over their own sheer lack of access to any political power within Nepal than out of any desire to strengthen democratic institutions in Nepal. Hence, the distance lends an air of doctrinal purity, an almost idealzed wish -- regardless of the messy situation in the ground in Nepal. How else to explain this utterly delusional statement such as: "I have a feeling the Maoists will come into the mainstream if the democratic forces were to switch their allegiance from Constitutional Monarchy to Republicanism and were to agree to the idea of a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution." ? Yeah, right. The Maoists will NEVER come to the mainstream. Let's stop deluding ourselves -- once and for all. Either the state will flush them out to the point of irrelevance (a move I support, while keeping a sharp eye on the state's human rights abuses) or the Maoists will take over the country. We are headed for only these two bloody outcomes. ***** I am continuously amazed by how Nepalis abroad UNDERESTIMATE the Maoist threats. Obviously, they have not been home in the last five to seven years, much less worked or travelled to parts of Maoist-affected Nepal. Let me put this very crudely, 1) Yes, the King threatens the interests of non-Kathmandu-based elites (hence opposition to him comes most from these people who have much to lose if Girija et all cease to exist as aboveground political netas). b) Yes, the political parties threaten the interests of Kathmandu-based traditional elites' (hence, opposition to political parties and their netas come most from these people who chant the mantra of 'corruption' and 'bad governance' against the netas). c) BUT, don't you see? The Maoists threaten EVERYONE's interests. The Maoists have a history of saying one thing and doing another; they have a history of saying that they are pro-poor while hurting and harming the poor the most; they have a history of backstabbing and destroying their own friends such as Samyukta Jan Morcha; they have a history of hijacking legitimate political agenda and mutating them into justifications for sickening violence .. . what more evidence do you want against the Maoists? It's a myth to think that the Maoists want to come to the table for talks. What will they talk about? When we have seen legitimate political parties FAILING to strike a compromise among themselves to go for goals that would have been collectively better for them, how can we even think of Maoists to ever be ready to make compromises that 'joining the mainstream' inevitably entails? Nothing gets done in Nepal if ALL problems are to be solved at once. First, let's concentrate on defanging the Maoists. With them around, you will never be able to go home. oohi ashu