House panel summons FM Koirala

Himalayan News Service

KATHMANDU: The parliamentary committee on International Relations and Human Rights today summoned Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala to enquire about the purported claim by a Constituent Assembly member that he was issued threat by an official at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.

Lawmakers during the meeting today demanded that the government do the needful to deport the official at the embassy.

Sharma, who represents the UCPN-Maoist in CA, had reported on Friday that he was ‘threatened by an official at the Indian Embassy’ and on Sunday had demanded security.

After reading out a letter sent by the Indian Embassy, Minister Koirala told the House committee that her ministry — the Ministry for Foreign Affairs — was probing the incident.

The embassy has stated that it did not deign to comment on such baseless allegations.

The committee has directed the the foreign ministry to initiate process to take action against the alleged Indian Embassy official after conducting a thorough investigation into the incident.

The committee members have said that the threat issued to lawmaker Sharma had insulted the CA and was tantamount to insulting the whole country and demanded that thereby the official should be ‘punished’ and ‘expelled’ to ensure sound relations that the two countries enjoy.

UML lawmaker Radha Gyawali said this was not the first case, as other CA members too have complained about threats from the officials at the Indian embassy in the past. Whip of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal Abhishek Pratap Shah too had complained that he was threatened by an Indian Embassy official, she said.

The committee members also drew Minister Koirala’s attention towards frequent visits by foreign officials and diplomats without informing MoFA.

The lawmakers also flayed the top leaders for making frequent trips to New Delhi for the treatment of even minor of the illness. Those could be treated in the country, they said.

On Indian prime minister’s special envoy Shyam Saran’s visit to Kathmandu, Minister Koirala said the visit was a ‘private one’ and MoFA had no information about the visit.

Sharma told the meeting that a person identifying himself as Das from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu had threatened to abduct him and end his political life.