The Nepalese army's two-year campaign to crush a violent insurgency by Maoist rebels is fast escalating into a human rights catastrophe.
Villagers, teachers, journalists and suspected informants are facing abductions, extortion attempts and gruesome executions at the hands of security forces and guerillas.
A conflict which the rebels began in 1996 as a war of liberation for the impoverished, illiterate villager is morphing into a Himalayan version of Peru's hellish 1990s battle with Shining Path guerillas. In the past two months, more than 1,000 people have been killed. Nepal cannot afford this kind of bloodbath, said Padma Ratna Tuladhar, who mediated between Maoists and the government until peace talks collapsed in August.
The insurgency has left more than 8,200 people dead, and is bleeding the country's finances dry.
The British government has estimated that up to 80 billion rupees (HK$8.6 billion) has been slashed from Nepal's gross domestic product since fighting began. The defence budget has tripled since 1998. Spending on public services has virtually ceased. The vital tourist industry is in crisis.
The Maoists have for years terrorised those who refuse to help fund their cause, feed their cadres, or whom they suspect of co-operating with security forces.
They have murdered teachers and health workers they consider ideological enemies.