And so it goes on. The seemingly endless spiral of murder and mayhem. Amidst all this we have to bear witness to the inexorable extinction of all that we hold good: faith, basic human decency,wisdom and compassion.

The sickening squabbles amongst these pariahs of politics hold the entire nation hostage. They brandish the constitution as a fig leaf to explain away all their shenanigans and in the meantime everyone lives in abject terror. The countless deaths become nothing more than "collateral damage", the citizens suffer from viewer fatigue and readers like us, who enjoy the relative luxury of life in the US, can safely take angry, bombastic pot shots at the Maoists and the politicians from this distance.

Meanwhile heroes like Mohan Khatri and Krishna Sapkota die everyday, and all I can think of is what can I do to show my respect and gratitude for these selfless martyrs who have laid down their lives to the greater cause of life and liberty.

Right from day one, your paper has always espoused decency and common sense in these difficult times. But who is listening?

Irrespective of his motives, the king's gambit was the only last ditch option we really had. The solution will not be painless. I just say it is not too late.

T Sherpa
Seattle, USA

. What political parties' responses to King Gyanendra's move has shown is what Nepalis have known all too well all along: that the parties have neither the political will nor the stomach to confront the myriad crises that have beset the nation. As you have pointed out in your editorial ("Common sense in uncommon times", #116), political parties were given a free hand for 12 years, they had the chance to attempt to solve the problem of Maoist insurrection, the rampant corruption in the highest echelons of government, rampaging lawlessness and a languishing refugee crisis screaming for attention. Instead what the country got was an intensified insurgency. Politicians treated the national treasury as their own piggy bank, the once-healthy national flag carrier teetering on bankruptcy, endless scandals, corruption and mismanagement careening out of control, and the all-talk no-action approach to the refugee crisis.

So is it any surprise that the people have stood with cautious and guarded optimism now that King Gyanendra has asserted himself, within the framework of the constitution, to address the grievances of long-suffering Nepalis? They know the political parties have utterly and ruthlessly failed. The confrontational approach, using language loaded with thinly veiled threats against the king being adopted by the political parties and their refusal to join the government have demonstrated how completely vacuous, out-of-touch and morally bankrupt they have become. The real threat to the security, dignity and sovereignty of the Nepali people does not emanate from Narayanhiti, but as the past 12 years have demonstrated, it comes from the likes of Girija Koirala, Madhav Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai and their ilk.

Bishwa Basnet
by email