ImI, I understand some of your concerns. However, I also notice that you are making ASSUMPTIONS and wishing others to act on those ASSUMPTIONS. Assumptions are assumptions no matter how convincing they look to you. At this time, what Nepali people is looking for is TRUTH, not ASSUMPTIONS. And truth comes from TESTING. Nepali people seems ready to test Maoists- their words, roadmap and commitments. I think the following are the steps where Maoists shall be tested. It is also loosely a political roadmap agreed by or acceptable to Maoists for next 1-2 years. 1. Ideological commitment to "democratic republic" (done) 2. Practical commitment to political process (CA) rather than armed revolution (done) 3. Formal understanding with SPA (done) 4. Ceasefire (done) 5. Partnership in the movement (done) 6. Partnership in the interim government (due) 7. "Sequestering" of weapons during the election of CA (commitment) 8. Participation the election of CA (sure thing) 9. Constitution drafting: a. Drafting of republican constitution ACCORDING to the mandate of the election (commitment) b. Drafting of monarchical constitution ACCORDING to the mandate of the election (non-commitment) c. Drafting of monarchical constitution AGAINST the mandate of the election (opposition) 10. Disarmament and management of Militia (commitment and sure thing in case of 9a, uncertain in case of 9b and unlikely in case of 9c ) After the disarmament: 11. Election of Parliament/Head of gov (commitment to participate) 12. New government as per the result 13. Truth commission (popular demand) 14. Actions against all (old government, RNA, Maoists) found guilty (by popular pressure) 14. Full fledged, vibrant and of course messy democracy What one can draw from the above is that, if we do not have any problem with "democratic republic", then there is nothing to be nervous about the Maoists. The path to their domestication and a stable democracy is straight forward. Only one thing that might make it unworkable is if the MAJORITY of Nepali people voted for MONARCHY (pro-monarchy candidates to be exact) in the election of CA. But, is it likely ? I don't think so. So, all that is left is to move and move faster to pass through all these steps which will test Maoists and also other political parties and we the people too. Nepe