KATHMANDU, April 8: Nepal’s ambassador-nominee to Germany, Suresh Pradhan, told the parliamentary hearing committee Wednesday morning that he was unnecessarily dragged into controversy for making public a secret document prepared by China on the Peace and Friendship Treaty between the two countries.
Pradhan told the committee that the information about the China-proposed document was first leaked to the media by Om Sharma, the press advisor to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and not him. When contacted by myrepublica.com, Sharma said he indeed talked to the media about the dossier.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal’s Dahal’s Foreign Affair’s Advisor, Hira Bahadur Thapa, has filed a complaint at the parliamentary committee accusing Pradhan of committing serious crime by making public crucial information about Nepal-China relations.[break]
Order to present dossier in Sharma's case
“I am not the first person to make it public,” Pradhan, who is also the foreign ministry spokesperson, told the hearing. “PM’s Press Advisor had already made it public during Chinese deputy foreign minister (Hu Zhengyue)’s Nepal visit. And, reaction of the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu also came over the matter. When asked by journalists over the same matter, I just confirmed it.”
Pradhan clarified that he had no personal enmity with Thapa.
“His (Thapa’s) name was proposed for ambassadorial post many times in the past. But he did not get appointed as he came into controversy,” said Pradhan on Thapa. “It is his fault, not mine. He was not proposed this time too. Maybe that desperation came as protest against my nomination.”
Pradhan also said Thapa holds such a powerful position that he could have immediately taken action against him if Thapa wanted.
Prior his hearing, the committee grilled Ramswartha Ray, who has been nominated Nepal’s envoy to the United Kingdom.
When he told the committee he was nominated by the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) party for the ambassadorial job, parliamentarians questioned if he – as a political party nominee – could represent the whole nation.
Parliamentarians burst into laughter for a while during the hearing, when Ray claimed that he can acquire support from the UK for establishing a nuclear reactor in Nepal.
Hearings of other two nominees – Dr Chandra Kant Poudel for India and Surendra Kumar Karki for France – is underway.
