flurry of high-level visits by US and British officials to India and Nepal indicates growing international concern about a Maoist threat to the Nepali state. In New Delhi, western officials have been meeting the Indian establishment to find out if there is a joint role for Britain, the United States and India to address the crisis in Nepal, sources said. The consultations are also to gauge Indian policy, future support and the potential spillover effect of violence in Nepal. Besides senior State Department officials who have visited Nepal and India recently, British foreign ministry official Rosalind Marsden is currently in New Delhi. Marsden was the coordinator of the first contact group meeting of Nepal's donors in London in June. And a visit by British permanent undersecretary Sir Michael Jay is scheduled early next month to Kathmandu and New Delhi.

Western officials are said to be sharing their concerns with Indian experts on two main points: the recent escalation in the insurgency, and the future of Nepali democracy after the 4 October royal takeover. Diplomatic sources say they are watching the widening rift between the monarchy and the parliamentary parties with serious alarm, and are worried that a rise of the right will lead the country into a dangerous polarisation and an even more ruinous war.