On that VoIP thread wrote: "On a larger note, when and if you work in Nepal in a public setting, you guys will have to endure many false attacks and face slimey backstabbings that are going to be a lot more severe." Well, regardless of whether you like MR Sharma or hate him, the above postings give us a flavour of what severe attacks and backstabbings look like. Personally, I do NOT know Mr. Murari Raj Sharma. And I do NOT particularly care about his political beliefs. But given his relatively 'public position' these days, no one should be surprised by all kind of these attacks against him. These attacks go with the territory, and that's life. Still I, for one, think that Sharma has every right to express his own opinions in public so long as he is NOT on the Nepal govt. payroll now. [If he had signed a document saying something to the effect that he would not criticize the govt for x number of years after leaving the service, then the matters would have been different.] NOW Just because Sharma expresses his opinions in public, that does NOT make those opinions right or even true. His are just opinions -- which can be supported or opposed with better arguments, just like any one else's. The opinion that he was a former UN rep, therefore his views should carry more weight is nonsense. Sure, Sharma might have been a nepotist and might have been a lousy representative of Nepal to the UN during his tenure. But alas! Being a democrat ALSO means ALLOWING even "nepotists" and "khattam ex-bureaucrats" to freely voice their opinions in public. oohi ashu