VIDEO FIASCO
We have now heard from the horse's mouth about the real strength of the Maoist PLA? somewhere in the vicinity of 7,000 combatants. This number falls in line with most people's original estimation. It was public knowledge that new soldiers were recruited to fill the cantonments in an attempt to inflate the numbers. Now we have proof. The nation had banked on UNMIN's verification process to reveal the truth. UNMIN failed miserably to capture this reality. It betrayed the people of Nepal by not taking its job seriously. With the benefit of hindsight and with the preponderance of evidence, we can now deduce that UNMIN has been part of the problem and not part of the solution. The current video fiasco also brings into perspective the reasons behind the complaints about UNMIN to the SG by no other than Girija Koirala a few months ago.

Om Nepali,
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* The videotape of PKD speaking to his commanders has reaffirmed that we have to be devils ourselves to outdo the Maoists. They have continued to lie to us and this time they even tricked international organisations. Bravo!

Kishor Kamal,
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* In your editorial ('Useful idiots,' #450), you fail to give due credit to former UNMIN head Ian Martin for the support he extended to the Maoists in pretext of 'monitoring' free and fair elections here. How does Martin have the nerve to show up back in Kathmandu for a 'personal visit' when the country is disintegrating, thanks to his methods of verification and monitoring? We should all note that by now the UN has never succeeded in maintaining peace or long-term political harmony in any country it has ever put its foot into.

Prasanna KC,
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YADAV VS DAHAL
CK Lal shocked me with his irrational snipe at the president ('Yadav vs Dahal,' #450). Who is he trying to please with this piece? Mr Lal seems to be of the same ilk as the opportunistic pro-Maoist civil society.

Kumar Acharya,
Bhadrapur

ABNORMAL NORMALITY
Reading the piece about how Nepal seems to run more smoothly without a government in Kunda Dixit's 'Abnormal normality' on the Nepali Times website (www.nepalitimes.com), reminded me of what Mother Teresa once said: 'Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.'

B Shrestha,
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CIVIL SOCIETY
I join Tirtha Thapa ('Crisis,' letters #450) in condemning the 'civil society' who are protesting against the president's constitutional decision. They can never summon the courage to stand against the Maoists, who are the real villains. Messrs Devendra Raj Pandey, Krishna Pahadi, Sundar Mani Dixit and Shyam Shrestha have lost whatever little credibility they had with their ridiculous decision to back the Maoists in the ongoing crisis, which is entirely of the UCPN-M's own making. We have seen Pushpa Kamal Dahal's videotape. We need no further proof of the Maoists' true intention: dictatorship in the guise of democracy. While I supported the civil society in their struggle against former king Gyanendra's authoritarianism, their deafening silence regarding the Maoists' continuing assault on freedom serves as a testimony to their self-serving hypocrisy.

Ram Chaudhary,
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