Nepal government recalled 11 ambassadors including India

The Nepal government has recalled ambassadors of 11 countries, including those serving in India and the US and those appointed under the Nepali Congress quota, three months after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ ended his alliance with the party and joined hands with KP Sharma Oli.

The government on Thursday recalled these ambassadors, including Nepal’s Ambassador to India Shankar Sharma, despite strong objections from Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha. kathmandu post The newspaper reported this news.

The incident comes ahead of Mr Prachanda’s expected visit to Delhi on Sunday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Several Foreign Ministry officials told the newspaper that such a move sends a very undiplomatic message.

A minister told the newspaper that Foreign Minister Shrestha was opposing the proposal to recall ambassadors appointed under the quota of Nepali Congress and other parties, but Prime Minister Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman Oli took a unilateral decision to recall the ambassadors.

Foreign Minister Shrestha reportedly asked both Dahal and Oli not to recall all 11 ambassadors as the performance of some of them was good, the minister said. It is believed that Mr Dahal and Mr Oli pressured Mr Shrestha to accept the move, which was later decided by the Cabinet.

The decision was to be taken by the Foreign Ministry, but the Cabinet approved it without much discussion. Sources said Shrestha also opposed the decision in the Cabinet meeting.

The recalled ambassadors include Sharma (India), Shridhar Khatri (USA), Gyan Chandra Acharya (United Kingdom) and Jyoti Payakural Bhandari (South Korea). They were appointed in the quota allotted to the Nepali Congress when party president Sher Bahadur Deuba led the government in 2021. Sharma, Acharya and Khatri were recommended as ambassadors in October, 2021.

The other ambassadors whose tenures have been cut short are Naresh Bikram Dhakal (Qatar), Navraj Subedi (Saudi Arabia), Sharmila Parajuli Dhakal (Spain), Ram Swarth Rai Yadav (Denmark), Kanta Rijal (Israel), Dilliraj Paudel (Malaysia) and Salin Nepal (Portugal).

Dhakal, Rijal and Nepal were also appointed in the Congress quota before the party broke away from the Dahal-led government in March. Subedi and Yadav were recommended by the Janata Samajwadi Party.

Dhakal was appointed in the quota of the Prachanda-led CPN (Maoist Centre) but sources claimed his influence in the party was weak. Poudel was appointed in the quota of the CPN (Unified Socialist) but he failed to build cordial relations with Labour Minister DP Aryal.

According to a minister, the envoys have been given three to four weeks to return.