National
House panel okays four ambassador nominees
The Parliamentary Hearing Committee (PHC) endorsed all four nominees for the ambas-sadorial positions, including Nilamber Acharya as ambas-sador to India, following a hearing on Sunday.Tika R Pradhan
The Parliamentary Hearing Committee (PHC) endorsed all four nominees for the ambassadorial positions, including Nilamber Acharya as ambas-sador to India, following a hearing on Sunday.
The country’s diplomatic mission in Delhi has been without its head since Deep Kumar Upadhyay resigned from the post in October last year to contest the polls. Three other ambassadors endorsed by the PHC on Sunday are Anjan Shakya for Israel, Udaya Raj Pande for Malaysia and Krishna Prasad Dhakal for the United Arab Emirates.
With no complaints against the four candidates recom-mended by the Cabinet, the joint committee of the federal parliament started the hear-ing procession.
Fielding questions from the PHC members, Acharya said he would work hard to get rid of the ever-existing suspicions among the people of the two neighbouring countries that have age-old economic, social and cultural ties.
Acharya said he was inter-ested to represent the country as an envoy at a time when Nepal’s relations with India is in a crucial mode.
“There is no reason behind our grumblings. We are inti-mate but need to see how much open-minded we are. We must maintain cordial rela-tions with India for prosperity and economic development,” said Acharya, who had previ-ously served as ambassador to Sri Lanka. “Border remains open but sentiments are not. So, we’ve got to turn suspicion into mutual trust through open and clear dialogue.”
Acharya, who is also a member of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), said reports that India would not accept the EPG report was not the official version of the Indian government. He insisted that the report would help resolve most of the out-standing issues of the two countries.
Pressed on by lawmakers to explain what his priorities would be if he was appointed the head of the diplomatic mission in Delhi, Acharya said it was the Foreign Ministry and the political leadership of the government that prioritises issues.
Leader Yogesh Bhattarai said the envoy should work hard to change the mentality of Indian leaders and people towards Nepal. “We cannot change our neighbours, but the mentality of the people could be changed,” Bhattarai said urging Acharya to make efforts in that regards.
Acharya told the lawmak-ers that he would convince the Indian leaders that widening Nepal’s avenues with other countries would not affect its relationship with India in any ways.
The PHC meeting also directed the government to make all the recommenda-tions inclusive as per the con-stitutional provisions, com-mittee member Amrita Thapa said afterwards. President Bidya Devi Bhandari will for-mally appoint all four of them as ambassador.