In 'Which way?'(#285) Kunda Dixit outlines in a sober and balanced way the sorry situation facing the country and the debacle of the 'years of democracy' followed by the present impasse. In the conclusion he quotes Harka Gurung saying, "a constituent assembly is the only antidote". I as well as many others fail to see the logical connection between getting rid of the king and eliminating corruption, incompetence and nepotism in the political parties and in all levels of governance in the nation. Please kindly illuminate us. The rhetoric of the political parties has been directed exclusively at the king, not a single word has been used by them to explain to us how they will solve those crucial problems of the country. They just say "put us back in power completely then we will see" and they have been good in exploiting to their advantage the mistakes made by the government, forgetting completely their own. Moreover, the recent interviews with the Maoist leadership clearly show their twisted and dangerous logic and they have clearly stated that they reserve the right to go back to violence whenever they would find it necessary. How the parties can trust them is anybody's guess. By the way thank you for the useful chronology 'Ten year timeline' in the same issue. You should have included though also some important points of the political scenario like the proposal the king made to the parties in 2001 to form a government of national unity, a proposal that was thrown back in his face by the parties.

S K Aryal,
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. Even with such grave threats of bodily harm and serious consequences, a turnout of 50,000 must be considered a massive number in municipal elections. Imagine what the figure would have been minus the violence and threats lingering behind the majority of the Nepali public. We must admit that our political leaders are not capable leaders. They are 100 percent Indian backed, with Indian mentality and are more Indian than Nepali, therefore dismissed as anti-nationals, until they stand up as Nepalis.

Paras Dewan,
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. The writing is on the wall for King Gyanendra if he wants to see it: the 21 percent turnout in last week's civic polls was a referendum and only one-fifth of the people voted for an interventionist king.

Gyan Subba,
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. Despite everything I am optimistic after reading 'Which way?'. Historically since 2007 BS there have been radical changes 10 years after they were first raised. So perhaps the 10th anniversary of Maoist activities signals a change. Our family is originally from Palpa and I am devastated at the destruction of the town. It is not a strategic town, and the public outcry against its destruction has perhaps made the rebels realise their mistake. The elections have been a total failure, and the king lost fair and square. I think he will look for a compromise or even a way out of the mess. Prachanda, the hard man, seems to have softened a bit and I think the king will have to reciprocate. Both probably realise now that there is no military solution. No powerful country now supports the royal regime. Besides, the country is going bankrupt so there is no time to lose.

S Khanal,
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