FM pins the blame on Maoists for delay in envoys' appointments

Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan has squarely blamed the Maoists for the continuing delay in the appointment of ambassadors.

Pradhan said, "The Maoists have not handed over the names of their nominees. If they nominate their persons, then that would become an agenda for discussion and approval at the cabinet. But they have not done so yet."

She said that the Maoists have not made their nominations even though Prime Minister asked them to do so at the cabinet meeting.

Maoists have been allocated four ambassadorial positions, in France, Australia, Denmark and Malaysia. Eighteen ambassadorial positions have been lying vacant since more than a year.

Pradhan added that she does not know if the governments of the foreign countries would accept the 'agreemo' of the Maoist nominees.

Meanwhile, Kantipur on Saturday reported that Maoists have finally picked four ambassadorial nominees. It quoted Maoist leader and its international bureau chief CP Gajurel as saying that the party has picked Pampha Bhusal as envoy-nominee for France, Hira Bahadur Thapa for Malaysia, Ajay Sharma for Australia and Bijaya Kanta Karna for Demark. Bhusal is a central leader of the Maoists and Sharma is a regional bureau member. Karna is a teacher and Madhesi activist while Thapa was an acting foreign secretary during royal regime. Gajurel said that his party will present these names at next cabinet meeting.

On the other hand, the delay in the appointment of ambassadors and secretaries has put the Election Commission (EC) in a trouble.

The EC had wanted to issue the election code of conduct on August 23 but the government has requested it to delay that. The government cannot make appointments, transfers or promotions once the code of conduct is enforced. nepalnews.com sd Aug 25 07