Within two months of the royal proclamation and restoring the parliament, a tentative framework for peace has been hammered out to the credit of both the government and the Maoists. Within the international community, however, there is a great deal of dissatisfaction and the thorny issues of weapons management and control of military forces remain unresolved.

First, we must be clear that the ongoing negotiations are not surrender by the Maoists, so that terms cannot be unilaterally imposed. They have already accepted multiparty democracy, private property and market economics. Having beaten the drum of disarmament for the past three years, the Maoist leadership is advocating a drastic reduction in the size of the army. Looked at objectively, these concessions are reassuring and promising.

I disagree with those who single out the Maoists for opprobrium for their violent tactics while conniving at the army’s even worse record. Both sides have blood on their hands. There is some extortion going on, which should immediately cease, but the extortionists of Nepal’s bureaucracy leave the red-star brigade in the shade. So let’s leave the imaginary world of pure white heroes and pure black villains where it belongs, in children’s cartoons.

There are now four power factions operative in Nepal: the monarch; the army, now swearing fealty to the democratic government but of uncertain loyalty and certainly not under control by the parliament; the Maoists, whose suit for peace is now being addressed but continue to sporadically engage in hostilities; and the reinstated parliament and its ministers. The parliament has declared its intention to rein in the king, but the two armed factions are both the most dangerous and the least amenable to control. The Maoists’ suggestion of putting both forces under independent control is good but under whose control?

The longstanding bad blood between the Maoists and the Nepal Army is problematic, but there is a homegrown solution. Nepal is home to many retired British and Indian Gurkhas, men of unquestionable loyalty and high standards. If the commanding officers of both forces stood down and were replaced with Gurkhas until the constituent assembly polls are held, a conducive atmosphere for safe and fair polls would be created. These officers could oversee disarmament of both armies and, if given command of the police as well, transfer arms-bearing authority to the police. With advice and assistance from the UN, they are equal to the task. Educational, vocational and jobs programmes for the demobilised soldiers could be created at much less cost than continuing the army, which is defensively useless and a breeding ground for coups, plots and human rights abuses.

The Jana Andolan wasn’t about restoring the status quo ante Oct 2002; it was about building a truly democratic, egalitarian and progressive society. Many of the Maoists’ ideas regarding devolution of power to the local level, rural development, honest governance and improvement in education and health are good and can provide a counterweight to the deficiencies of the past governments. If they renounce violence, they have much to offer. This is not the time to search for heroes or villains or to impose any one faction’s wishes on the people. It is a time for the nation to come together and rebuild itself.