Kathmandu, September 20
The Parliamentary Hearing Committee has approved the nominations of 16 ambassadors by majority vote on Thursday.
However, the nomination of Ramakrishna Bhattarai, the proposed ambassador to Sri Lanka, is still pending. According to committee chair Ishwari Neupane, Bhattarai’s documents are incomplete, which has delayed his approval. “We have directed to submit the documents, and once they arrive, the nomination will be approved,” Neupane stated.
Despite the majority approval, two members of parliament registered their dissent on certain nominations. Dol Prasad Aryal of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) opposed the appointments of Kapilman Shrestha (proposed ambassador to South Africa), Dhan Prasad Pandit (proposed ambassador to Israel), and Netra Prasad Timilsina (proposed ambassador to Malaysia).
Similarly, MP Prakash Adhikari of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) expressed dissent not only on these three names but also on the nomination of Dr Shankar Sharma, the proposed ambassador to India. Despite the objections, the committee approved the ambassadorial nominations by a majority vote.
