Nepe, the second part of your statement  "In my judgment, Maoist has made a huge contribution, not necessarily by design though; a lot of positive contribution could be viewed as a by-product, ripple effect, or a tactical product," is absolutely right. But let's not give more credit to Maoists than they deserve. Yes their movement brought some awarness, but it was and is the desire of rest of nepalese people for a real change, the zeal that is there now, like we have never seen before. In other words, let's give more credit to those factor that kept "ripple effect" going, when Maoists after giving a shake to the bucket moved to more inhuman and disastrous acts, which are no less than crimes.

One shouldn't use the acts of army personals, to justify Maoists' acts. A crime is a crime. And while today most of the army personals are not in active duty committing crimes, maoists are openly and proudly.