Nepal tries hard to control mob rule – a staggering example of failure of democracy in modern days
Surinder Sinha, Special Correspondent
February 05, 2005

Nepal’s move towards collapsing democracy into a box and reinitiating the monarchy has not been seen well in the world. But what really happened is that the corrupt and incapable elected politicians and their opponent Maoists kept fighting each other and take Nepal to the level where common people could not live any more. 

The King intervened, moved the politicians out of the office and called on the Maoists to join peace talks and be part of the mainstream Nepal.
Newly appointed Nepali Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey said Feb. 4 that Nepal will not hold multi-party elections without first "restoring peace and democracy." Nepal's royal army has vowed to quell the Maoist insurgency. 

Military Chief Pyar Jung Thapa gave an ultimatum to the Maoists rebels to accept King Gyanendra’s offer of peace talks. He called on the senior army officers to be prepared for a massive offensive against the Maoists if they refuse join the mainstream politics.

Five days after Nepal's king seized power, arrested government leaders and suspended civil liberties, the army vowed on Friday to make a decisive strike against Maoist rebels to end a revolt to overthrow the monarchy. With protests banned, politicians isolated and under house arrest and the media muzzled, the army will now focus all its resources on forcing the rebels back to the peace table, generals said, setting the scene for rising violence. More than 11,000 people have died since the Maoists took up arms in 1996 but both sides have ground to a strategic stalemate where neither can win on the battlefield. 

The violence has dogged, and toppled, several governments. "The army must launch tougher action against the Maoists if they ignore His Majesty's call to lay down their arms, join the mainstream and if they continue their violence," army chief General Pyar Jung Thapa said in a statement. The army's chief spokesman, Brigadier-General Dipak Gurung, said "Maoist terrorism" posed the greatest threat to Nepal and urged allies to back Kathmandu's war in the strategic country sandwiched between nuclear rivals India and China. "Now we can solely go after the Maoists in a single-minded manner without having to worry about what's going to happen on the streets, people's agitation," he said.