The committee made a decision to hold the hearing following an intense discussion on the clarification letter sent by the government on January 29. [break]
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) had sent the clarification to the PHSC after the latter decided to conduct hearings for nominees only after receiving a ´fully inclusive´ list of nominations. A cabinet meeting held on January 17 had nominated six career diplomats and four political appointees to fill 10 of the total 12 vacant envoy positions.
The clarification letter while stating that the government including the MoFA is committed to ensuring representation of the all groups of people in all state structures as provisioned in the Interim Constitution 2063 BS has made it clear that the envoy nominations were made as per the government policy to pick 50 percent envoys from among career diplomats and the rest from political nominations.
Those nominated for envoys from among career diplomats include Shankar Bairagi (Geneva), Rudra Nepal (Australia), Mukti Nath Bhatta (Denmark), Bharat Raj Paudyal (Pakistan), Paras Ghimire (Myanmar) and Prahlad Prasain (Israel).
Likewise, the cabinet had nominated Maoist party loyalists Ravi Mohan Sapkota (Russia), Ram Mani Pokharel (Belgium), Dr Maya Kumari Sharma (Qatar) and Kaman Singh Lama (South Korea).
Related story
PHSC to start hearing of envoy-nominees soon
