The great Florentine humanist, historian and statesman Nicolo Machiavelli in his The Prince argued that a statesman must instill fear: It is better to be feared than loved. Using an animal metaphor he said it was better to be a lion than a fox. His words of wisdom should ring a bell in the minds of all those who are following the tragic events in Nepal. Right now the Seven Party Alliance is beseiging the Singh Darbar where the royal palace ios located. The king Gyanedra has responded by ordering his troops to open fire and about 7 civilians have been killed. The situation in Nepal is tense and the king has realised that the victory for the Seven Party Alliance at this particular moment will be only a phyrric victory, because the Maoists who are watching all this unfold from the sidelines will quickly movein to feast on the remains after the fall of the monarchy. Unfortunately the King without realising the gravity of the situation has handed over a political and moral victory to the Communists who are very much active behind the scene and are just waiting to grab political power. The Seven Party Alliance has not shown the wisdom and political sagacity by which Nepal can be democratised within the framework of a constitutional monarchy.
The King has conceded too little too late. Had he made these concessions a monmth back he could have saved the Kingdom. Now his concessions are looked upon as signs of weakness and we know verywell how maoists behave when they see signs of weakness. They just raise the political bar too high and start making impossible demands. Unfortunately the US policy in the region did not recognise the threat posed by the Maoists and the US joined the chorus of voiced demanding democaracy. India which shares a long border with Nepal made things more difficult by imposing an arms embargo. The Maoists were getting arms from China and Burma while the Royal Nepal Army had to face the communists with.303 rifles.
Ever since the king and his son had the former kind Birendra, Queen Aiswarya and the entire family killed in a Palace coup for wich a Crown Price was made to take the rap, Nepal has been lurching from one crisis to another. The King should now realise that it is easy to arrane assasinationsd but difficult to sit on a throne acquired through bloodshed.