One could say that the honourable members of the interim legislature, including the Maoists, were at least not killing each other on Sunday.

The sight of Maoist MPs thumping tables instead of throwing socket bombs,raising their hands to vote instead of giving the red salute can only mean progress in the peace process.

We don't want the Maoists to be a mainstream party because the mainstream has discredited itself in the past ten years. This former underground party is different because it wants to change things, which is its unique selling point. It will be its anti-status quo agenda that will attract voters fed up with inaction, lethargy and incompetence of the old leaders of Old Nepal.

But here is the rub: the Maoist party must officially renounce its modus operandi of violence, intimidation and threats. Without demonstrating that it is willing to play by the rules of pluralistic peaceful politics, it will be defeated in the ballotfield just as surely it couldn't win in the battlefield.

Despite the show of following the parliamentary process in the special session last week, there are plenty of indications that the Maoist party hasn't abandoned the old ways of doing things: beating up the cadre of other parties, thrashing people who dared worship at a temple, extorting trekkers and killing journalists.

The Maoists finally accepted responsibility for the murder of Birendra Sah this week, but refused to apologise. Worse, a Maoist leader even said his party could not be held responsible for the actions of individual cadre. This is appalling, considering that Sah was murdered after local Maoists in Bara lured him to a story on timber poaching.

Inexcusable also is the behaviour of Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula who apparently knew that the Maoists had killed Sah soon after his abduction last month. He lied in parliament, and he tried to cover up the Maoist crime. We don't know who is protecting Sitaula, but the man needs to go.

The two resolutions on Sunday night represented a political compromise and a face-saving way for the Maoists to extricate themselves from a parliamentary cul-de-sac. This week, the Maoists have tried to portray the vote as a victory, but they'll have to do much better than that to prove to the Nepali people that they have made a clean break with their violent past.

Because the directives were a apolitical compromise, however, the legal issues are still stuck. The proposals only put moral pressure on the government to go ahead with parliamentary ratification, but that still needs a two-thirds majority of house which is not possible without the united NC agreeing to it.

So, Pushpa Kamal Dahal needs to answer how this benefits his party and the country. Because all he has done is extended the lifespan of the monarchy by delaying elections.