If the attack on the police station in Piuthan had happened in the tense Tarai, not too many eyebrows would have been raised. But Piuthan is in the cradle of the Maoist revolution and the attack bears uncanny similarity to Maoist attacks on security bases during the war. There have been armed clashes in the Gam area of bordering Rolpa in the past year in which two Maoists have been killed. And there have been rebellious tendencies in this Magar-dominated area even before the Maoist insurgency. There are many militant groups and elements that want a shortcut to political power by adopting the same armed tactics that the Maoists taught them, especially in the Tarai. Most are former Maoists themselves, like Goit, Jwala Singh. Even Matrika Yadav now wants to quit his party and set up his own rebel group. And the Tharus are setting up their own 'army'. The Piuthan attack is not the first in the hills after the peace process: there have been similar attacks in Nuwakot and in eastern Nepal by Kirati organisations and by Maoist splinter groups all over the country who say the 'people's war' is not over. Such extremism, if it is allowed to continue, will threaten the peace process itself.