It has taken 12 years for the democratic aspirations of the Nepali people to shatter. The blame for this goes to the gross misrule by the leaders and parties in power. Rampant corruption at all levels of government became an open and expected process, some leaders didn't even try to hide their unsavoury behaviour anymore.

Factionalism, horse-trading, personal and political scandals became the order of the day. Then came the violence-Nepal's tranquility was shattered by unprecedented levels of murder and mayhem. Nepalis are killing each other like animals gone berserk, we are destroying what little infrastructure we have, all this for power in the garb of a political ideology. We seem to have hit an irreversible self-destruct button.

If we don't look for solutions, a Khmer Rouge-type future is not inconceivable. Things couldn't drag on like this. On 4 October, King Gyanendra sprang a surprise on the nation, sacking the government citing incompetence, taking upon himself the executive powers, pledging to uphold multiparty democracy and hold fresh parliamentary polls at the earliest possible time. The people, fed up with years of misrule, were generally supportive of the king's move. But the political parties held a series of meetings, requested a joint meeting with the king, which didn't happen, and balked at joining the king's team.

It has taken some weeks for these shell-shocked parties to protest the move. Political leaders have said they see a "grand design" to reverse multi-party democracy and have announced rallies and mass meetings in the coming month. The Maoists have detected an ideal opportunity to drive a wedge between the king and political parties. They have stepped up their offensives, bombings, looting, arson and destruction nationwide. They now threaten to take their struggle to the bitter end if their demands for a) a roundtable meeting including the king b) a constitutional assembly and c) an interim all-party government are not met.

The state has tried to match their ferocity with military operations. But the general feeling is that it has not been able to put the Maoists on the defensive. So, where do the three forces (palace, parties and Maoists) go from here?

They have to start by agreeing to pull the country out of its deepest crisis ever, and relieve Nepal's long-suffering citizens from this unnecessary mayhem.

Firstly, the Maoist must abandon violence as a means of attaining state power. This is outdated and unacceptable. There is enough political space for anyone with aspirations of power to win it through the ballot. The bullet is not acceptable, nor is it a sustainable method of retaining power. Others elsewhere have tried it and failed: it is not possible to browbeat a nation to follow your notion of justice and system by force. The politics of terror and destruction never yields state power, it can only be attained and kept by winning the hearts and minds of people.

However maligned it may be, parliamentary democracy is still the most viable form of government in the present context. Any infringement on the rights and freedoms of the people will not be accepted by the Nepalis. Political parties and their national leaders may be discredited, and it is true that they must take a major share of the blame for the present state of affairs, but this does not mean the people have lost faith in the system.

The Nepali people have savoured political freedom, and they cannot be put down anymore.

The monarchy must remain constitutional. Any deviation is fraught with dangers. Nepal's diversity requires the king as a symbol of national unity, a symbol of hope and salvation. For this, he needs to keep himself above petty politics, leaving the peoples representatives to sort out the problems and develop the nation as best as each can. The political parties may be down, but they are not out. People power should never be underestimated.

For their part, the national leaders of the political parties owe an apology to the people for their past misdeeds. Their misconduct, greed, malgovernance and factionalism has few parallels in modern statecraft. There is really no way out but for the leaders of political parties to regain the peoples' confidence they have squandered over the past dozen years.

Together, political parties and the palace must cooperate if they are to compel the Maoists to give up their violent path. The international community, and especially our neighbours, must extend financial and material help to bolster the chances of a political resolution. A secure and peaceful Nepal is in their interest too.

(Dhawal Shumshere JB Rana was the UML mayor of Nepalgunj.)