As the representatives of the government and the Maoists made public the code of conduct in the capital last Thursday, a family scarred by violence prayed for peace. Addressing a function to mark the first death anniversary of her father, Ram Mani Gyawali (right), his youngest daughter Anita wished no Nepali should go through what her family had suffered in the name of the "people's war".

She also demanded the rehabilitation of orphaned children should be on the agenda of the peace talks. The Maoists murdered Gyawali, a member of the Nepali Congress general convention from western district of Arghakhanchi, in February 2002. "Even after a year, we are still haunted by his loss," says Binita, another of his daughters. A well-known social activist, Gyawali was killed while at home with his family members at Kerunga.