As the country remains paralysed by the domestic and diplomatic crisis, Nepal’s top diplomats remain away in foreign capitals.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala cancelled his scheduled visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, citing the need to address the domestic situation as well as a diplomatic standoff with New Delhi. But his Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey and Acting Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Biragi and Foreign Affairs Advisor Dinesh Bhattarai are scheduled to return to Kathmandu only in the second week of October.

Foreign Minister Pandey is returning to Kathmandu on October 9 from New York while Acting Secretary Bairagi will travel to Geneva from there to attend a programme as a panelist.

“At a time when the country requires its top diplomats at home as diplomatic relations between Nepal and India are troubled, their absence sends across a negative message,” said officials at the ministry.

Prime Minister Koirala is pressed to ask Pandey and Bairagi to cut their visit short and return to Kathmandu. There is intense pressure on both to shorten their stay abroad but it is not clear if they will return earlier than schedule, a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

While Pandey and Bairagi and two other senior joint secretaries of the ministry are in the United States, the Foreign Ministry is being run by Health Minister Khagaraj Adhikari and Chief of Protocol Arjun Kant Mainali.

Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh led the Nepali delegation to the UNGA. “I don’t see why the foreign minister went along at this critical time,” said former ambassador to India Bhekh Bahadur Thapa. He added that the PM should have taken his stance against their departure, asking him to intervene now.

The ministry is getting queries from foreign diplomats as to when Nepal’s top diplomats would return. During an interaction with the acting foreign minister on Tuesday, former ambassadors to India also criticised their absence.

Former ambassadors Thapa, Rukma Shumsher Rana, Madhu Raman Acharya and incumbent Nepali Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay were present during a consultation at the ministry. The former envoys discussed the previous blockade imposed by India in 1989-90, and how Nepal had dealt with the situation.