Most of the articles in your last issue offer little hope for Nepal. Ashraf Ghani analysed the people's movement as one which changed the regime "but without leadership of vision and action" (Guest Column, 'Hard work, hard choices', #306). Agreeing with him, I believe that the seven parties have no charismatic and visionary leaders and that the Maoist leaders believe more in guns than people, so that we see a huge gap between their commitments and actions. The photo essay 'A show of force' is more proof of this and exposes the Maoists' hidden motive of cowing the Nepali people with psychological terror. CK Lal's analysis of the huge debate on removing the list of SLC toppers instead of on 'the plight of the 53 percent of failed examinees' and the complete failure of the education system also proves the hypocrisy of Nepali intellectuals. For whom are they advocating? For the poor or the privileged? The Nepali people need lasting peace on the basis of a democratic society, better and corruption-free government service, more employment and the assurance of self-respect and a united Nepal. But these issues are neglected and the unity of the people is being pulled to the breaking point in the name of religion and ethnicity. To succeed, we need leadership not only from the political parties but also from the media, ie, writers and journalists. Otherwise, there is a chance that Nepal will fall into a 'vicious cycle of violence and destruction'.

Prakash Sharma,
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