Kathmandu, Aug. 7 -- Question (from BB Gurung, Bhoje Village, Lamjung District): "One expects to kill and be killed in a conflict, but I want to know why you slit throats when you take the lives of people."

Answer (by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Maoist Supremo): ". Let me make clear, six months after we started the people's war, I myself wrote an important circular that went down to the grassroots, saying that if a situation arose that you have to annihilate [sic] someone, it should not be accompanied by torture. My circular stated that even if it becomes necessary to eliminate ['safaya'] someone, you should not torture."

BBC live broadcast on 8 September 2006 over BBC Nepali Service, hosted by Suman Kharel.Listen here.

This question-answer ma...