I have strong objections to today (March 2)'s main picture that appeared in The Himalayan Times. It is spread on a four column that shows disfigured close-up bodies of dead Maoists. I have already written to The Editor giving him a piece of my mind. Please join me in lodging individual protests. Here's a copy of my letter: Dear Sir, The main picture on The Himalayan Times dated March 2, 2005 was of really bad taste and showed how an established media house like yours can stoop so low at this juncture by being so insensitive. You as a responsible media should have been well aware of the negative effects such vulgar coverage of the ongoing conflict could have on the society. True, the picture may have depicted the current state of the nation but we don't deserve to see close-up disfigured dead bodies on your front page early in the morning. More than that, what are you going to answer to the psychology of young children who have seen that picture? Believe me, I am starting to get the feeling that such an act only shows that the visual editors in your media house have as cheap mentality as the price of your newspaper. In any way, it surely did not deserve four columns of your valuable space. In the initial days of the conflict, I remember most media houses used to resort to such erroneous acts. Some journalists, including me, were part of all that. But we were all rookies then. I had not hoped that a reputed institution like yours would fail to learn from that past. I wouldn't be surprised if the Royal Nepal Army, that had reservations over an India based Nepali TV showing bodies of its dead soldiers in Krishnabhir, will not object to your picture because you have glorified their operations. But we must remember that dead bodies, either of the Royal Nepal Army or the Maoists, doesn't glorify but demoralize the people's psychology to move on with our lives despite the current state of the state. I, as a reader, demand an immediate public apology from your newspaper. Take this straight: Your efforts to have printed such a gluttonous picture does not prove to the government, in King Gyanendra's own words, that you stand "for peace" rather than "the terrorists". It only shows you have become a pathetic coward by falling prey to such cheap publicity.