An interesting piece by one Sodesh Chettri (nice to see a non-bahun name in a byline), explains how the ceasefire between the government/police and the maoists has put the UML (right wing communists, the official opposition party in parliament) in a bind. http://www.yomari.com/p-review/2001/08/09082001/uml.html
In an interview, an unofficial spokesman for the Chinese hints that the Indians were responsible for the royal massacre ("Most of the Nepalese elite quietly whisper that King Birendra and his family were the victim of RAW [RAW is the Indian CIA - jm] tailored plot because King Birendra was once again moving close to China.") And that the Indian Army was on the verge of entering Nepal at the time of the massacre at the request of the (now removed) pro-Indian Koirala government, but that the Chinese warned them off. And is cool towards the maoists - urging them to reach a negotiated settlement in order to resist Indian expansionism (which is actually pretty much the maoists line). His only explicit criticism of the maoists is of their verbal support of the (non-communist) LTTE ("Tamil Tigers") - the nationalist Tamils engaged in an horrendous civil war in Sri Lanka. http://www.yomari.com/p-review/2001/08/09082001/facetoface1.html
john mage