The only good thing we thought we could say about 2002 is that it was perhaps not as bad as 2001. After the royal massacre, street riots and the army getting sucked into the conflict, we really thought that things in 2002 couldn't get much worse.

But they did. More Nepalis were killed in 2002 than have ever been killed in our nation's history. As many people died in the past year as were killed in the previous five years of the insurgency. And, as the recently released report by Amnesty International points out: more than half of the "Maoists" the security forces claim to have killed were actually innocent civilians. As for the Maoists, their brutality, arbitrariness and targetting of the innocent only shows that "the peoples' war" is indeed what it claims to be.

There are indications that the Maoists are now being forced into an endgame. The internal dynamics of the party, the need to keep the cadre occupied and show results means that it can't go on like this. Matters are coming to a head. By deliberately timing their bandh on the day of the royal rally in Biratnagar, it is clear the comrades are now on a do-or-die trajectory.

Their revolutionary student wing has forced commercial schools to lower fees, but the biggest cuts are in the expensive schools where parents can actually afford the fees! The sword of an indefinite nationwide school strike still looms in February. There isn't much else you can close after you close all schools for all time. Going by the number of ads in Kathmandu papers, the people who are raking it in are Indian boarding schools. Inured by the statistics, hardened by the daily horror and numbed with compassion fatigue, most of us have retreated into our shells.

You'd only expect the Maoists to behave the way they do. Revolutions put concepts like humanity, compassion, conscience and rationality on hold. But it is up to the state to show restraint, accountability and a willingness to abide by basic humanitarian norms.

This they must do not just because we are signatories to the Geneva Convention, but because it is militarily the intelligent thing to do. Every Nepali villager killed, tortured, raped, or beaten will spawn twenty more Maoists. So the question we want to ask the captain in Chisapani is this: which side are you on?

End games can go either way. They bring a catharsis and a resolution. We may well see that in 2003 and can only hope that, either way, it will be quick.