Yubaraj Parajuli, Lalitpur
Will blowing up a bridge in Rolpa make things difficult for the prime minister? Will shutting down a school in Gorkha affect the education of the children of the education minister? Will destroying a hydroelectric plant in Rukum bring darkness to the residence of the home minister?"

Parasu Shrestha, Dharan
You may be thinking "My comrades and I are shedding blood for the people and the nation. The armed struggle will bring revolution, development and the pace of progress will be many times what it is today." However, the revolution you are thinking about is impossible in the present national and international context. At a time when even Mao's own country is democratising, isn't it foolish and immature to imagine dismantling the democracy established after 30 years of struggle for the sake of bringing about your republic? How can you justify the revolutionary activities to uproot the system that you have been able to undertake in the first place because of democracy? What is the type of revolution your group is trying to achieve by destroying the infrastructure designed to make the lives of the people easier and that has taken so much time and money to build?

Bhivu Bikram
Today we see an enemy in every unknown face because of the terror that you have spread. The word trust has lost its meaning. A new aspect has been added to our lives-fear. Why doesn't your heart cry when you tie someone else's father to a tree and shoot him because you are angry or have the power? Why doesn't your hand shake when you snatch loved ones from families and slash them with khukuris in front of their relatives? You are carried away when you commit murder and do just what you want to.

Jaya Sharma, Bhadi Kuwa, Parbat
I want to ask our friends who have taken to violence where it will end. Where will the serial violence end? Violence is not a solution, it creates more problems. We are losing the trust we had in you, we are getting desensitised.

Harilal Poudel, Bijauri, Dang
What type of power will we end up with once violence had burnt away all creativity? Who will remain who we can call "the people" after we have killed everyone? Is it our goal to make a battlefield of our country and then gradually turn it into a desert?

Rajaram Dahal, Jhumka, Sunsari
It is true that we did not get what we had hoped democracy would bring. But we still have the right to remove the incapable and replace them with capable leaders. Isn't our inability to pick the right people our own failure? What we need to understand is that if democracy remains, we will be able to elect the right people who can then guarantee good governance. We can pick leaders who will bring development. Who does not have the right to go and seek the people's support? Those who claim to be revolutionaries, who have taken to terrorist means, why can they not go to the people [to seek their support]?

Khugendra Raj Kandel, Gaidakot
If you are actually fighting for the welfare of the people, and are genuinely motivated by the desire to develop the country, why are you attacking physical infrastructure? Will those acts make the people happy? Are there no other means to attain your goals other than murder, violence, abduction and destruction?

Kabita Adhikary, Pokhara
I appreciate your campaigns against gambling and alcohol and your war against feudal traditions. But your guns have begun missing their targets of late. The internal conflict is turning Nepal into another Afghanistan. That is why it has now become necessary for you to return to the mainstream with open minds.

Laxman Ghimire, Kathmandu
Have you ever thought these things: How many have been widowed as a result of your acts? How many have lost their children? How many have been crippled, while nothing has happened to the actual corrupt people? You seem to have a large cache of weapons, but why are they always aimed at the poor? Why have you not aimed your arms at the mafia and the corrupt?

Kabita Katwal, Sittel, Bhojpur
Everyone loses in violence, while sustainable, legal campaigns always win. This is a historical fact. When you seek change unnaturally, you might even put lives in permanent danger. Let us not engage in violence in the name of change and freedom.

Bijaya Gautam, Banepa
Change brought about by guns can last only as long as there are bullets. The crowd that is behind you will remain with you only such time as you keep carrying guns. Think, do you do you have a raison d'etre without weapons?

Bikram Basnet , Khotang
Friends, the path you have chosen is one which some day will bring you to a situation where you will not even have time to repent.

Mahesh "Jigyasu" Poudel, Kirtipur
Our problems and pains are the same. The only difference is that you have headed to the forests to try and resolve them with khukuris and guns, while we are still in the villages and towns. It's as if someone has sewn up our mouths. You cannot find work even after walking around with bundles of certificates. You need relatives and afno manche if you are to get work. The environment is not suited to using skills to make a living. People are heading abroad. Why is this happening? Are we all unable to come together and tackle these problems? Why can't we combine your courage and strength with our creativity to build a strong youth force? Why can't we rise above being Congress, UML, Maobadi, and even for a short time be only Nepalis?

Nirak Bahadur Sunuwar, Dailekh
Rame joined the Maoists to do politics. Shyame became a Maoist because he did not get a job. Hari became a Maoist because he got fed up of home. Dhire picked the Maoists after being deep in debt because his business failed. Bire became a Maoist because of poverty. Nare joined the Maoists for the emancipation of dalits. Gagane used to be a teacher. He joined the Maoists because he did not want to teach in the village and also because he did not get the respect his qualifications deserved. Others went to take up guns. But whatever the reasons, the path they have taken-of violence and murder-will not help resolve the problems; they will only complicate them. Unless everyone comes back on the road to peace, the country will not be able to change its appearance.

Richa Bhattarai, Kirtipur
The future is ours. The present leaders of the country will eventually retire, and then we will have to resolve all the problems facing us. To take up the challenge we need to collect knowledge, rather than engaging in mindless violence and murder. We need to direct our common sense on to the right path, and we need to be capable of taking the country towards progress.

Rajaram Siwakoti , Hetauda
Your goals and objectives can be achieved quickly by winning over the minds of the people. Which country will you rule, and for whom, if you spread violence and murder, kill Nepalis and destroy development infrastructure? If you want to rule this country leave the path of violence and come to the people, we youth are ready to join hands for peaceful protests to create the necessary pressures.

Rita Silwal, Birendranagar
Mother does not want to see brother going to the battlefield with weapons. She wants to see her children going to the fields with their kutto and kodalo. Mother does not want to hear about the death of her children, she wants to hear of their progress.

Kamal Kumar Lamichane, Hetauda
I won't accuse you of treading on the wrong path but I will definitely say this: you are destroying the very road on which you walk.