The basic principles of state administration include gathering power and developing the ability to utilise that power. Correct use of power adds to the state's strength, but misuse can lead to its failure. The Nepal of today is a burning example of the misuse of power – a situation made all the more grievous by the use of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) as a political weapon. The deployment of the military took place when the Maoist rebellion was already in full swing; with the RNA's failures, the numbers of those who kill and are killed have increased relentlessly.
The country today is caught in an unimaginably complex web due to the misuse of state authority. Even while the society is mired in violence, however, the state establishment remains unconcerned. Consider the fact that in extending its land battle to airborne attacks, the RNA has little reluctance to lob mortar shells out of helicopters in the direction of the enemy, destroying dwellings and killing innocents.
After having sat out the initial six years of the insurgency watching the under-equipped civilian Nepal police system bear the brunt, the army was forced to deploy in 2001 only after its barracks in Dang were destroyed in a surprise rebel attack. The democratic government of the day originally called for the deployment in order to control the violence, but killings actually escalated thereafter, a trend that continued during the subsequent four years.
The army, which is efficient in providing statistics, lists 14,000 citizens as having died as a result of the 'people's war'. In the first six months of 2005, the RNA says that the Maoists abducted 10,725 individuals, killed 72, and carried out 65 destructive explosions. The report also suggests that over the course of the insurgency, 1825 village administration buildings have been destroyed, as well as 35 telecommunication transmission towers, 420 post offices, 297 police posts and six hydropower stations. After the second ceasefire period ended on 27 August 2003, the toll has been 5361 Maoists and 581 army men killed until 29 January 2006.