KATHMANDU: Nepal's prime minister may announce plans this week to push ahead with a general election in 2005 despite a threat by powerful Maoist rebels to "shatter" any vote in the embattled Himalayan kingdom.

Commentators say a free and fair vote is almost unthinkable because of the long-running Maoist insurgency, political turmoil and growing human rights abuses. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is likely to carry through on a commitment to prepare for an election - already delayed more than two years - after Maoists rejected his demand to agree to talks by Thursday.

The rebels had rejected the call for talks as early as November, just a few days after Deuba had set the Jan 13 deadline. "You could have a fig-leaf election, but whether it is free and fair, whether it represents anything or strengthens democracy, that is another matter," said Kunda Dixit, editor of the widely read weekly Nepali Times.

"It is not about democracy, it is about going through the motions of a vote." Maoists, who exert some form of control over most of the Nepali countryside, have vowed to destroy the polls. Fighting since 1996 for the abolition of the monarchy, they say a vote should first be held to decide on the king's powers.

Their ability to disrupt normal life through fear alone was dramatically underlined last year when they enforced a virtual blockade of the capital Kathmandu and closed businesses simply by issuing threatening statements.

MAOISTS STRONG: While the government likes to draw comparisons with elections in Indian Kashmir and Afghanistan held amid conflict, analysts say the thinly stretched Royal Nepal Army would struggle to secure even a poll held in stages.

"The Maoists could disrupt an election in their sleep," said one analyst who declined to be named. "You can see their power, if with a single press statement they could blockade the entire capital."

Campaigning would be curtailed, and the few people able to vote would be doing so under the army's watchful eyes. "Voting would be done just outside military barracks," said Dixit. "There will be a strong temptation to stuff ballot boxes to insure turnout is high."

Nepal is locked in a bitter three-way struggle between the Maoists, political parties who are themselves deeply divided, and a king accused of overstepping his constitutional powers.

Deuba himself was sacked by King Gyanendra in late 2002, only to be reinstated last June after sustained street protests against the monarch for interfering in democracy.

The war has claimed more than 11,000 lives since 1996, almost a quarter of those in the last year alone. Tourists still come to see the country's imposing Himalayan peaks, but arrivals have dropped sharply.

Nepal is already one of the world's poorest countries. Its economy is limping along, sustained largely by foreign remittances from Nepalis who have left to find work and escape the conflict.

Human rights groups accuse both the rebels and the army of widespread violations, including murder and torture of civilians. On Wednesday, Amnesty International condemned the Maoists for killing civilians who criticized them, and abducting children to bolster their ranks.

"Abductions of children, and the resulting fear that discourages children from attending school, seriously undermine children's right to education as guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child," the group said in an open letter to rebel chief Prachanda. -Reuters