PHC receives nine complaints against 17 proposed ambassadors

KATHMANDU: Nine complaints have been filed against 17 proposed ambassadors to different countries at the Parliamentary Hearing Committee (PHC).

Committee President Ishwori Devi Neupane said the hearing on the complaints has been scheduled to start from August 30.

“Nine complaints have been filed against 17 ambassadors proposed by the government for various countries. We will call the complainants at the Committee and ask them to clarify the subject of their complaint and its rationale,” she mentioned.

Neupane further said, “Schedule has been revised and passed in accordance with Section 15 of Parliamentary Hearing Committee Procedure on the issue of concluding the hearing process, holding discussion by calling the proposed ambassadors.”

During the meeting, lawmakers expressed the view that the appointment of ambassador was not inclusive. Lawmakers—Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Janardan Sharma, Prakash Adhikari, Ananda Prasad Dhungana, Leelanath Shrestha, Ishwori Gharti, Mahesh Kumar Bartaula, Bhagawati Neupane, among others, raised the question saying the government failed to ensure participation of Dalit, Madhesh and Muslim communities while making recommendation of the ambassadors.

They shared that the Committee’s request of maintaining inclusion while appointing ambassadors was not implemented.

The government had recommended Prof Dr Krishna Prasad Oli as the ambassador to China, Sunnima Tuladhar to Denmark, Dr Shail Rupakheti to Germany, Dr Shankar Prasad Sharma to India, Prof Dhan Prasad Pandit to Israel,  Dr Netra Prasad Timalsina, Rita Dhital to Pakistan, Prakash Manu Poudel to Portugal, Ramesh Chandra Poudel to Qatar, Jung Bahadur Chauhan to Russia, Naresh Bikram Dhakal to Saudi Arabia, Prof Dr Kapilman Shrestha to South Africa, Dr Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe to South Korea, Sanil Nepal to Spain, Ram Krishna Bhattarai to Sri Lanka, Chandra Kumar Ghimire to UK and Lok Darshan Regmi to USA.