Yubaraj Ghimire's column 'Between Bhojpur and Beni' (#189) was inconsiderate, unfortunate, misguided and downright wrong. I was dismayed that someone of his stature would choose to pass judgment so lightly on an issue of such profound gravity which might have implications much more damaging than the two attacks themselves, and that Nepali Times would print it without its usual strive for accuracy. While some finger-pointing is perhaps not unnatural in a post-traumatic situation, the allegations that the attack exposed "a rift and lack of cooperation among the security agencies" is simply outrageous and totally prejudiced. Consider the facts:

1. The police in Beni were not left in the lurch to face the attack alone armed only with 303s as Ghimire claims. They had been issued and trained on Army SLRs and this was one of the main factors contributing to the successful defence of the police post till early morning.

2. Ghimire's article nowhere acknowledges the fact that 18 brave RNA soldiers were inside the police post (as was the normal practice) tasked to protect it. The largest number of RNA casualties was in this group, which fought valiantly throughout the night, alongside the police, mainly manning the key and most exposed rooftop positions of the police post.

3. The night vision helicopter flew in extremely hazardous conditions and had already delivered its first fire when the police post finally fell after it ran out of ammunition. We all cheered every time the reassuring throb of the Mi17 reverberated overhead. It is to the credit of our brave pilots who regularly volunteer to fly night missions in our terrain using, nightvision goggles.

4. The article further implies that the rest of the RNA positions, namely the barracks and the DDC were mere spectators to the battle. Wrong again. As other journalists who actually visited Beni and who have seen the captured Maoist video correctly deduced, the main focus of the attack was the army barracks itself. The soldiers of Kali Prasad Bn (Engineers), whose primary task in Beni is to contribute to national development through road construction, and troops of the Gorakh Bahadur Bn fought a 13 hour battle and roundly foiled the Maoists declared aspiration to take and hold Beni for three days and nights.

The soldiers and policemen in Bhojpur and Beni fought and died shoulder to shoulder as one team to bear the burden of the nation's woes and the pointed indifference of various sectors of society, including the self-righteousness media.

Do not desecrate the sacrifice of our brotherhood with your light academic observations. Do not make a mockery of those who sacrificed their lives. Try and reflect on the likely effect on your communities if we were stopped fighting, and if the Maoists were allowed to succeed.

I do not ask you to compromise your objective neutrality. On the contrary, I challenge you to maintain it. I request you to go back to your journalistic roots, get the facts straight, and sometimes hear our side of the story too. After all, we are fighting, among other things, for your freedom, and trying to preserve democracy in the country.

Officer who fought in Beni,
email

. I am quite amazed to see that the government and the pro-royalists proceeded with the felicitations of the king in Pokhara in spite of the carnage in nearby Beni ('Between Bhojpur and Beni', #189). It would have been better to wear white, mourn and reflect. There are many questions that the government and security forces have to answer. The first step in fighting any insurgency is intelligence. If there were about 3-5,000 Maoists gathered around Beni readying for attack, even a simple act of a reconnaissance patrol would have found out where the insurgents were even if there was no intelligence. It seems our military planners/leaders are inept, not adequately trained and lack foresight. Was Beni in flames due to the lack of support of the army to the police as pointed out by Yubaraj Ghimire? Or was the army stretched too thin for having to guard a strategic bridge in northern part of Myagdi district? An even more plausible hypothesis is that the army and the security forces were so busy with the security arrangements for the King's felicitations in nearby Pokhara that they were unable to aid Beni. The attacks in Bhojpur and Beni within two weeks of each other clearly point that our security forces are incapable of dealing with the mounting insurgency due the lack of priorities/directives/planning and/or lack of security man power. There is a deep reserve of this security and military manpower that is waiting to be tapped. The government and the army have not utilised the 100,000 or so highly qualified and better trained ex-servicemen from the British and the Indian Gorkha Armies. It is high time that the government and RNA swallowed their pride and pressed the bravest and the brightest to promote peace and stability in our motherland before it is too late.

SN Singh,
email

. Both the government and the Maoists are equally to blame for the continuing violence and bloodshed in Nepal. The brutal suppression of this week's protest rallies by the political parties against regression shows the state's true face. Citizens should not remain silent spectators to the state's repression. These atrocities are continuing unabated even after commitments and the establishment of the Human Rights Cell in the RNA and the prime minister's office. It is common knowledge that the latter was established to bypass the mandate of the independent National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). If human rights is indeed "a matter of legitimate international concern", the world community should act before the situation further deteriorates. It should pass a resolution for the restoration of democratic rights. Likewise, the heinous crimes being committed by the Maoists deserves an equal measure of condemnation. In fact, for their crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court (ICC) should intervene to arrest those who are resorting to violence in the name of revolution or whatever else.

S Shrestha,
Kathmandu

. Puskar Gautam's guest column ('Maoist gameplan', #190) is a brilliant analysis of what the rebel strategy really is. It is also a realistic assessment of the crisis that our country is facing.

Abhishek Bikram Shah,
email

. When I read Nepali Times online these days I am ashamed to say to friends here that I am a Nepali. There is nothing to be proud of anymore. Of course, I can't blame the country. The problem is our rulers-politicians who have no shame, the same faces of crooks over and over again in parliament and now on the streets leading demonstrations for democracy. Give me a break. The important thing is to change the system, not the people. There is no shortage of committed, honest Nepalis with integrity and commitment to develop the country. And we are stuck with these corrupt people who have pushed our country back into darkness. Most of their sons and daughters are studying abroad, taking their ill-gotten wealth out of the country, while the sons of honest people are toiling in the Gulf and sending money home! Our future lies with hardworking Nepalis and not with these thieving liars.

Ram Adhikary
Melbourne, Australia