The mother of late chief of the Armed Police Force, IGP Krishna Mohan Shrestha wants to meet the "assassin" of her son and daughter-in-law. Eighty-seven-year-old Prem Kumari Shrestha (pic, below) has not stopped crying since her son was killed by Maoists three months ago. "I heard that the murderers of my son and daughter-in-law are in Kathmandu and the government let them free instead of punishing them," she says. "Can they come and explain to me why they killed my children?"

The government freed the three Maoist cadres arrested for their alleged involvement in the assassinations as part of the peace deal when the ceasefire was declared. "I am sad because my children were killed, but I am more disappointed that the culprits were freed. Isn't it the government's responsibility to punish the wrongdoers?" Prem Kumari asks.

She has been confined to a wheelchair because five years ago her fractured leg bone didn't heal. The loss of a son arrived at the heels of another blow-the death of her husband. She wonders aloud if the rebels understand a mother's pain at losing a child. "My son was in the police, he was their enemy, but what was my daughter-in-law's fault?" she demands. Madan Mohan, the eldest son, says after his brother's death their mother weeps constantly, cannot sleep and doesn't eat properly.

IGP Shrestha along with his wife and bodyguard were killed on 26 January when they set out for a morning walk in Bagdol. She vividly remembers that fateful morning as she anxiously waited for her son: they used to have morning tea together. Only when she insisted on the truth, her youngest son Jas Mohan told her that his brother had been shot in the head but was alive. She was told only later that he had died. Prem Kumari wishes for peace and prays the talks are a success but she wants her questions answered: "Will justice and fairness prevail in the peace process? Krishna Mohan believed in finding a peaceful solution, but got killed, can the rebels justify their act?"