Despite the constant international calls to restore democracy, the king's determination to go ahead with his roadmap is apparent from the following events: appointment of regional and zonal administrators, announcement of municipal elections, his speech at the Afro-Asian conference and his interview with Time magazine.

The king has been criticising the parties and their leaders in almost every public address he has made, blaming them for compelling him to make the February First move. It seems clear from the king's interviews and speeches that the parties are to be blamed for pushing the country into the current political crisis in the last 14 years of their governance. This is not true. If we look back into our history, it is apparent that the real reasons of the conflict are age-old caste discrimination, social inequalities and feudalism prevalent since the Shah dynasty began more than 200 years back.

The Maoists exploited these inequities to popularise their armed struggle. The 104 years of autocratic Rana rule, 30 years of partyless Panchayat regime and multiparty democratic system were unable to solve these problems, consequently leading to the Maoist rebellion. It wasn't just caused by 14 years of multi-party democracy though it is true that the political parties were unable to seriously address these aforementioned causes.

This is where the parties proved themselves failures. But no politics can be considered democratic by sidelining political parties. The king himself believes that the only alternative to democracy is democracy. Nowhere in the world has peace been restored by suspending democratic processes to eliminate terrorism. After February First, we have experienced a 'directed democracy' that has deprived the nation of political rights, human rights, civil liberties and press freedom. So far, the king is moving alone with his roadmap without any consensus or dialogue. We don't know where this will lead Nepal.