Kathmandu: Nepal has nominated senior Maoist leader Ram Karki as the country’s new Ambassador to India. The Cabinet on Tuesday also appointed Mahesh Kumar Maskey and Dhananjaya Jha the ambassadors to China and the UAE respectively. Nepal cabinet also approved an agreement to end the dual tax system with India and charge tax on goods worth Rs 1,000 and above. Earlier, tax was charged on goods worth Rs 100 and above.

Karki, a Politburo member of the ruling UCPN-Maoist, is considered close to Premier Baburam Bhattarai. He will succeed Rukma Shumsher Rana after the Parliamentary Special Hearing Committee (PHSC) formally approves his name.

The Nepali mission in Delhi has been without a head since the second week of August when Rukma Sumsher Rana was recalled after reports that he was also working as the managing director of Dabur Nepal Pvt Ltd., reported Ekantipur Daily.

Karki has been working for party´s foreign department. He was nominated ambassador to France in 2009 but his nomination was dropped after then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned over the controversy surrounding the sacking of then Army Chief Rookmangud Katwal.

While Karki is considered an expert on international relations Nepal’s new ambassador to China Maskey is a medical doctor and a leftist intellectual. Jha, on the other hand, is a career diplomat who is senior joint secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Karki is currently in-charge of Maoist party’s Limbuwan State Committee and regarded close to Prime Minister Bhattarai.

Interestingly, Karki’s wife hails from Sikkim and is a senior government official, according to Maoist party sources, reported PTI.

The Maoists’ leader Ram Karki made created a furor in June this year when he said that the absence of elected representatives and lack of financial transparency in the Unified Maoists party will eventually lead the party to a catastrophic situation.

On a seminar on Inner- Party Democracy as a Means of Conflict Resolution in June 2011 Karki commented, “Negation or undermining of democracy gives rise to and consolidates bureaucracy in the party.” He also talked about critical consciousness of citizens and civic competence. Though an ideologue, his track record suggest a rational line of thought.

 

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