For the first time in five years of armed insurgency, a district headquarter has borne the brunt of a frontal attack by Maoist guerrillas. This could prove to be an ominous start of a long, cold winter of continued conflict. Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan and Jajarkot are all "Category-A" Maoist strongholds by the government's classification and hence the concentra-tion of forces there. Government presence in the district headquarters meant that it could show a semblance of control by keeping the national flag flying above the Chief District Officer's building. The Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister flew in and out on helicopters on largely symbolic visits to denounce terrorism.

Everyone knew that the Maoists roamed freely in the hinterland. They had their own administration, collectives and courts in place. It was convenient to pretend everything was normal. Dunai is a remote, poor and sparsely populated town four hours' walk from the nearest airfield. It was vulnerable, and the firefight seems to have been short and bloody. But the attack has sent a significant symbolic message: the solution to the Maoist crisis lies in Kathmandu not in western Nepal. The Maoist leadership is just taking advantage of petty politicking between factions carefully calibrated game: having scored a major propaganda victory with their audacious attack on a district headquarter, they left without capturing it for it could have pushed the government to make one more effort to send in the Army. The military has been marking time. Army Chief Prajwal Sumsher Rana warned two weeks ago that the Royal Nepal Army could not idle away and watch the country go to rot. But he has also succeeded in putting obstacles to police weapons modernisation and the formation of a paramilitary force. He will now have to answer why policemen in Dunai weren't better armed. The fall of Dolpo should galvanise the government's resolve to deploy the army for peacekeeping if it becomes necessary. And for it to be taken seriously, the ruling party must put its own house in order and end a power struggle that has paralysed governance. Factions within the ruling party and the opposition parties must all realise that democracy's future in Nepal is much more important than their narrow-minded squabbles. Very soon, if they are not careful, there may be nothing left to squabble about.