When prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took over as prime minister four months ago, one of the first things he did was invite the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) for talks. The Maoists responded by declaring a cease-fire. That truce, and hopes of a negotiated settlement to the six-year-old insurrection, have ended in bloodshed.

FIGHT FOR CONTROL
1. Darchula: Police post overrun; four policemen killed 2. Dolpa: Army attacks using helicopters 3.Pokhara: 60 engineering students arrested foor links with Maoist 4. Solukhumbu: Police station attacked; 40 killed	5. Pyuthan: Rebel bases attacked. Army uses air support. 6. Salyan: Army camp attacked; 13 Maoists killed, 5 held 7. Rolpa: Capital of Maoist government under B. Bhattarai
July 22 Sher Bahadur Deuba takes over as prime minister replacing Girija Prasad Koirala, also of the NC. July 23 Deuba extends olive branch to Maoists and invites them for talks sans conditions. July 24 Maoist supreme leader Prachanda agrees to talks and announces a cease-fire. November 19 Third round of discussions fails on the point of declaring Nepal a people's republic in place of constitutional monarchy and electing a Constituent Assembly. Prachanda says no justification for further talks fearing rebellion in his ranks. November 29 Maoists announce formation of "United People's Revolutionary Government" and People's Liberation Army to step up struggle. November 21 Maoists go on offensive killing 40 people, including army and police personnel, loot garrison and banks in Dang and Rolpa. November 25 Maoists attack police station in Solukhumbhu in eastern Nepal. Chief district officer and over 40 security personnel killed. November 26 Deuba Government declares state of Emergency. Maoists declared "terrorists". Army mobilised throughout the country.

On November 19 the Maoists abandoned talks after it became clear that the Government would not concede the demand for declaring Nepal a republic in place of a constitutional monarchy and drawing up a Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution. Two days later they declared a parallel government, the "United People's Revolutionary Government", with its capital in Rolpa. The virtual civil war that followed has seen over 350 people die on both sides. It also forced the Deuba Government to declare a national Emergency. The move came none too soon. The Maoists have established their rule in 22 districts of western Nepal. They run parallel governments in 40 of the country's 75 districts. On November 23, they destroyed government offices and police outposts in more than 20 districts and looted more than Rs 200 million from banks.

The irony in all this is that it should come at a time when Deuba is prime minister. His ascension to power owes much to the Maoists-they had said they would negotiate only if he were made prime minister. This had forced the then prime minister G.P. Koirala to step down as pressure built on him to facilitate an attempt at peace. At that time Deuba had said, "If I fail to restore peace through talks, I will go".

That Deuba has some hotline to Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda, the supreme leader of the Maoists, is apparent. Underground sources say Deuba had somehow convinced Prachanda to put his party's demand for replacing the country's constitutional monarchy on the backburner even before the talks began. Prachanda agreed and publicly withdrew the demand for a republic, but pressed for the Constituent Assembly. This disturbed the Maoist cadre as the demand for an end of monarchy and establishment of a single party people's republic has been at the core of the people's war since the party's formation in 1996-at which time, coincidentally, Deuba was prime minister.

A conflict within their rank began. Soon a section of Maoists led by ideologue Baburam Bhattarai and the trigger-happy Ram Bahadur Thapa alias Comrade Badal, the Maoist military commander, started challenging Prachanda's supremacy. In some villages posters with Prachanda's portrait highlighting the "Prachanda path" (ideological line or guiding principles of the people's war) were replaced with those on "Comrade Badal's Path". Faced with a possible revolt against his leadership, Prachanda hastily abandoned the talks. On the night of November 23 Maoist guerrillas calling themselves the People's Liberation Army (PLA) attacked the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) at Dang in which 40 security personnel including 14 soldiers were killed. The pla also looted self-loading rifles, light machine guns and ammunition and invaded the prisons in Dang and Syangja. They freed 77 prisoners, mostly Maoists. The Government claimed about 80 rebels were killed in the attacks when army and police retaliated. A day later the Maoists invaded Solukhumbhu district in eastern Nepal, killed the chief district officer, and then attacked the police station killing around 40 security personnel including 11 armymen. A night-long gun battle between the RNA and the PLA ensued, which by morning had left over 200 rebels dead. That same day Prachanda declared the violence stood for "the liberation of the people". He described the "people's action" against the RNA, the symbol of monarchy, as "successful and brave". That was not all. To maintain his supremacy within the organisation he declared himself Supreme Commander of the newly named PLA.

Meanwhile Deuba was weighing his options. Despite having got the mandate to initiate harsh measures, he kept delaying the decision to impose Emergency because he wanted a national consensus to use the army against the Maoists. Finally, on November 26, he called a cabinet meeting to recommend imposition of Emergency throughout the country. King Gyanendra signed the declaration and also cleared the "Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Ordinance 2001". Maoists were declared terrorists and for the first time the army was let loose to launch an all-out war against them.