I disagree with P Rana's letter (#167) about how the Royal Nepali Army is being portrayed in your paper. Rana says the RNA is not "a Latin American military that slaughtered tens of thousands of its own people". Maybe. But it could be following in their footsteps. Most armies are not created to kill their own people, usually it is supposed to defend the country in case of war. But with the appearance of an insurgent group, things take a wrong turn. Sometimes, there is still a possibility to halt things before it is too late. Rana points at some of those signals. Comparisons are difficult, as your editorial ('Stop it', #167) acknowledges: there are too many factors in a conflict and many cannot be interpolated from one place to another. In my own country, Colombia, the conflict is supposed to be about drugs. False. Or, only half true. The origins of Colombia's violence are rooted in the peasants fight for land and social justice. Drugs, but fundamentally, the revenues brought by their illegal trade to the rich countries, 'only' fuel the conflict. If it is not drugs then abductions, ransom money, any cash will do. Every day, more parallels spring to my eyes between Nepal and Colombia. Sadly, more than I would like. Most of them are signals that the road is going down the abyss. Nepal can choose to follow or take a detour before it is too late. Learning from other's errors may help, but certainly closing our eyes to them does not.

Karin Eichelkraut,
Dhobighat