As goes the country, so go its embassies. Nepal has been without a plenipotentiary government and no parliament since the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly last May. The parliament has to vet the nominees for envoys as well as those recommended for important constitutional bodies. To remove this constitutional hurdle, the HLPC had proposed that the Interim Constitution be amended to do away with this provision. The President duly obliged. That was six months ago. The logic was that even in the absence of a functioning government and legislature, the constitutional bodies and embassies would continue to carry out their responsibilities largely unhindered. In the case of foreign missions, crucial ambassadorships like India lying vacant for years, it was felt, was inimical to Nepal’s interest. But six months on, except for the controversial appointment of Lokman Singh Karki as CIAA head, most other important posts remain vacant. [break]
It is hard to understand what the political parties are waiting for. Perhaps the November vote. But even if the scheduled polls are held successfully, it will be the same political parties, perhaps in different strengths, calling the shots in the new assembly. Until the country tides over the transitional phase—which currently seems a long way off—all such appointments will continue to be based on political consensus, and like it or not, be subject to hard bargaining. Now that the constitutional hurdle of parliamentary hearing has been removed, there is no reason the parties cannot settle this issue through similar bargaining right now. The delay in appointment of ambassadors to vital destinations like India, Egypt, Thailand and Germany (that are already vacant) and soon to be vacant post of SAARC secretary general and the UK, Brazil Canada, Kuwait and Sri Lanka missions is all the more baffling since there is already a provision to appoint at least 50 percent ambassadors from among career diplomats. With the government shelving important appointments, the morale of career diplomats is going down all the time, with those in line for potentially lucrative jobs being made to wait inordinately. In these highly contentious times why can’t all vacant ambassador posts be filled by qualified career diplomats?
There is some hope on the horizon. Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khilraj Regmi is reported to have discussed the issue with the current HLPC chair Jhalanalth Khanal last Friday. Khanal in turn has assured the head of the government that there would soon be some positive development. We hope he can rally the now expanded HLPC on this. The dangers of leaving crucial constitutional bodies like NHRC and CIAA without office bearers cannot be overestimated, especially during a wrenching political transition. Competent foreign ambassadors can play a vital role in garnering international support for the peace and constitution process and in expanding the country’s deplorable economic linkages. They will also help clear up misperceptions of the ground realities in Nepal. It is inevitable that some of the mess at home is reflected at Nepali missions abroad. It is the sheer scale of the problem that is most troubling.
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