In response to Preeti Koirala ('Letters\', #256), I want to make it crystal clear that it is always unacceptable that innocent people are killed and maimed in furtherance of a political, religious or ideological agenda. The UK condemns all terrorist acts without exception. But there is a world of difference between

a) an armed insurrection involving thousands of a country\'s citizens in classic guerrilla terrain, with political and socio-economic demands many of which are shared by the mainstream parties, and

b) al Qaeda, which is a world wide extremist network involving a tiny minority, with no coherent negotiable demands or formal structure.

In the case of armed insurrections rejection of dialogue by insisting on labelling the insurgents as 'terrorists\' is a recipe for years, maybe decades, of violence and misery. If only Nepal could draw some lessons from the UK where the government, parties and civil society have joined hands to face the terrorists threat- where an unacceptable ideology is combated with ideas, not guns- and where international cooperation is embraced rather than rejected as 'interference\' and is discouraged by the pursuit of misguided policies.

Keith Bloomfield, HM Ambassador,
British Embassy