In his royal proclamation on February First, King Gyanendra expressed his commitment to the restoration of multiparty democracy and called for the Maoists to join mainstream politics peacefully. If we are to take the royal proclamation as the road map to complete democracy and get international cooperation, the following steps would be effective:

1. Political leaders, journalists, lawyers, student leaders and human rights activists who have been arrested need to be released immediately without preconditions. Their political and other activities should not be restricted. It will not be possible to restore multiparty democracy if they are unable to work independently.
2. The government should restore most of the fundamental rights of the citizens. This will help achieve the goals of the royal proclamation and ensure that foreign aid and diplomatic support remains intact.
3. An environment should be created to allow politicians and the parties to practice politics in a clean and transparent manner.
This will aid the king's commitment to restore multiparty democracy within three years. There is no such situation today and this will not be possible without initiating peace talks with the Maoists. Previous governments made a lot of noise but did nothing. The nation can't move forward without efforts at creating peace to end the conflict. All it takes is a few days outside Kathmandu to see the country's reality.