WHEN the Nepalese went to the polls last year, an event that came two years after the end of a 10-year civil war, the country's former Maoist rebels found themselves with the largest single share of the vote - about 40 per cent.
On the face of it, the group's transition from fierce guerilla force to elected political party seemed, perhaps, to vindicate the pro-democracy doctrine of George W. Bush.
There was, however, one problem: the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) remained classified as a terrorist organisation by the US. It has stayed on the US Terrorist Exclusion List, meaning that members of Nepal's largest political party cannot travel to the US as they are deemed, well, terrorists. Last year, an American diplomat who had met the Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda (or "fierce one"), said the Maoists would remain blacklisted until they showed conclusively they had renounced violence.
The definitive moment of that test could be in the offing.
In May, the Maoists lost control of the Nepal parliament when a bid by Prachanda to sack the head of the army failed. Since then, they have stymied the coalition government that replaced them. As a consequence, the peace process designed to reconcile the sides in the civil war has also ground to a halt.
Last week, tensions were ratcheted up when the Maoists brought thousands of supporters on to the streets of Kathmandu, the capital, blockading the government building in a show of strength following the failure of talks with the ruling parties.
S.D. Muni, a professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, said: "The numbers they were able to mobilise and the fact they were able to keep control and maintain the peace indicate the protest was a success. It also showed the government is incapable of dealing with this kind of challenge."
There are now fears - stoked by fierce rhetoric from senior Maoists - that the former rebels could revisit their violent tactics. Most experts seem to think that is unlikely - for now.
For one thing, as part of the peace deal that followed the end of the war, 19,000 Maoist troops agreed to be confined to 28 UN-monitored cantonments, their weapons locked away. The measure was supposed to be temporary, but the 95,000-strong Royal Army - renamed the Nepalese Army after the country became a republic - has refused to accept even one "indoctrinated Maoist" into its ranks.
Nearly three years on, despite having their political wing emerge as the largest party in the election, the Maoist cadres find themselves in limbo - an extra army whose existence is regarded a paramount threat to stability.
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