Kanak Mani Dixit\'s piece on Madi\'s mass murder ("Sorry.", #251) made me emotional, angry and frustrated at the same time. Being a strong believer of the idea of social justice and having suffered from the same viruses of \'anti-feudalism\' and \'egalitarianism\' that most of our intellectuals suffer, I extended my \'moral support\' to the Maoist movement from the very beginning. Finally, there was emerging a force capable of shattering the very foundations of feudal institutions including the autocratic monarchy. Against the backdrop of what the mainstream political parties were doing in Kathmandu, the Maoists appeared to be genuinely fighting for a just cause. I took them as a part of our political evolution. But then just like their countless global counterparts, they gradually became dacoits, murderers, kidnappers or plain terrorists. BP Koirala has eloquently written about this \'phenomenon of the degradation of revolution\' in his memoir. Today I mourn not only the death of the innocent victims of the horrible crime in Madi but also the Maoist revolution that seemed so promising at one point in our history. I feel embarrassed to have associated my dreams of an egalitarian society with them. Like hundreds of Pushpa Kamal Dahal\'s militants, I was young and I was na?ve.

Dr Jugal Bhurtel,
Moscow

. Thanks to Kanak Mani Dixit\'s description of the aftermath of the Madi bomb. It saddened and angered me. Your front page showed that you too were struck speechless by the carnage. I agree with Dixit\'s conclusion that the Maoists should \'first, stop attacking civilians and \'next, drop the guns\'. Giving up violence is the only solution to the chronic barbarity of the past nine years. In these four words lies the solution to this bloody conflict. Prachanda\'s "sorry" is ridiculous. Thanks indeed for the coverage.

Name witheld

. After killing innocent people in Madi, the Maoists have exposed that they don\'t have a political agenda. By killing people who did nothing wrong and by picking on those who couldn\'t fight back, the Maoists showed they are just assassins. The mass murder in Madi was a heinous crime and the Maoists are indeed terrorists.

Kapeed Joshi,
Seattle, USA

. Kanak Mani Dixit\'s \'Mass murder in Madi\' proved that the Maoists do not respect minimum standards of human rights and the Geneva Conventions. The people must now rethink of the Maoists not as a political force but as terrorists. If they want to prove themselves to be a political force it is not sufficient only to say sorry. They must hand over the perpetrator of the Madi bomb to the Interntional Court of Justice to be tried for crimes against humanity.

Anchan Bhattarai,
Sindhuli

. As a Nepali citizen living abroad, it is very humiliating to see and hear about all the political parties heading for India to solve our problems instead of sitting together at home to find a solution. It is a shame that our leaders have to rush off to New Delhi. What do they think we are, Sikkim? As long as Nepali politics is ruled by self-centred, short-sighted and uneducated leaders, democracy in Nepal is just like a coconut in a monkey\'s hand. By now, we all know that the Maoist is not a political party, it is a terrorist group. If the Americans, British and Europeans want to look at Nepal through India\'s perspective, they should move their embassies to New Delhi. You have no right to sit in our territory and play with Nepal\'s independence. We have to save this country from cowardly leaders, unfaithful friends and terrorists.

Usha Sharma,
email

. Prachanda said sorry for the Madi bombing. The people of Madi have replied by saying that is not enough. It\'s no use saying sorry, the Maoists should stop this madness and find a way to put the genie back into the bottle.

Pravin Lama,
Kathmandu

. Your paper has published articles blaming the king, parties, Maoists, Americans, Britain, India. Who\'s left? What has disheartened citizens like us is this endless cycle of blame and criticism. We should all analyse our past mistakes but not paralyse ourselves with inaction for fear that they might be repeated. Developed countries have objected to the erosion of democratic norms but are they not trying to foist their own values on us, fashion us in their image? Why don\'t they first see how the people are suffering from violence before lecturing us on giving the reins back to the political parties who messed it all up in the first place? Our party leaders all deserve Oscars for being such good actors, pretending they are not responsible and putting all the blame on the king\'s court. They better wake up otherwise they won\'t even know their time is up.

Sujata Uprety,
email