- Kajol Khatoom, an innocent eight-year-old lost her life when Maoists set fire to a Kathmandu-Birgunj bound bus she was travelling in. Four other passengers died with her.
-l Hem Bahadur Rai was injured in a bomb explosion while he was clearing away garbage. He died in hospital.
- The Maoists killed security personnel in Sitalpati, Salyan by shooting them in the back; there was a river of blood.
- Man Bahadur Tamang, a former national taekwondo practitioner, was killed by Maoists near his home in Nuwakot; they hacked off his hands and feet.
- Forest fires started by the Maoists in Accham have destroyed government and private property.
- Two innocent children from Bhakatpur were injured while playing with Maoist explosives.
- The Maoists have kept thousands of villagers of Salma VDC in Jajarkot under strict surveillance, restricting free movement.
- The Maoists killed Taranath Yogi of Dang district while he was in mourning for his father.

These incidents, which have taken place in the last couple of weeks, clearly reflect the true character of the Maoists and the path they have adopted. The Maoists, who say they are fighting to free the common man, are killing farmers, labourers and children. Setting alight a bus and burning people alive, putting bombs in the hands of wage earners, making children the target of explosives, hanging teachers and slashing the throats of people who don't agree with their ideology is not revolutionary. Their actions have forced the public to regard them as terrorists. No one has the license to do whatever they like in the name of revolution and change.The Maoists have snatched away the life of Kajol, who was accompanying her uncle home to celebrate Eid. What have the Kajols of this world done that they are being indiscriminately killed? Kajols die in Kalikot, yet others are injured in Bhaktapur. Children have to be wary of tool bombs, they have to witness their teachers being taken from the classroom and hacked to death. What effect does this have on their psychology? The Chitwan Bhandara incident tainted the Maoists movement in the same way as when they set fire to a house of people in Harjung, Rolpa, a couple of years ago. When one considers the barbarity they have committed from Harjung to Bhandara, they have outdone Hitler's atrocities.

The Maoists say they are fighting for the working class, but it is labourers and farmers who are falling prey to their violence. Their behaviour contradicts what Mao said. They kill people like Nim Lal Rokka, Hari Singh Nepali, Shobha Ram Basnet, Balram Sapkota, Dal Ram Khadka, Chin Bahadur Rokka whom they see as class enemies. They kill people like Hem Bahadur Rai, placing bombs in garbage drums. No minister, feudal exploiter or high-ranking officer will ever place his hand in a drum. Do you call people who place explosives near public taps, roads, and in drums anything but terrorists? Have they begun to overshadow the al-Qaeda and the Taleban? Maybe the Taleban can learn a lesson from the Maoists? Is this how the people's rule will be established? By killing innocents? Is this the communist principle? What Marx, Lenin and Mao taught? This is what Idi Amin and bin Laden have taught.

The Maoists talk about international humanitarian law. But they kill people who have surrendered to them. In Dailekh and Salyan, the public witnessed them killing soldiers in cold blood. They've also killed civilians. They kill unarmed political workers who challenge their ideology. Challenging political beliefs with armed violence is not common political practice.

Recently, Maoists have restricted the movement of villagers in Salma, Jajarkot. They've been doing the same in places like Rukum and Rolpa for quite some time. They throw people out of the villages, the districts, and even the country. Thousands of villagers have been forced to live as refugees in the district headquarters and the capital. People caught between the Maoists and the security forces have been forced to leave the country. The government has declared an emergency. The Maoists, on their part, have declared their own emergency in certain areas. So people have to suffer curfews and security checks imposed by both the sides.

The extreme left thinking that the Maoists have espoused has led to the country's present situation. The Maoist revolution, in its latter phase, has degenerated into violence, terrorism, and anarchy. As a result, its political character is eroding and instead, it is being defined by its terrorist thinking, style, and behaviour. Will the Maoists be able to fulfil their dream this way?