The Permanent Nepali Mission to the United Nations at Geneva issued a statement on Monday informing about the Nepali delegation there to participate in the UN Human Rights Council and activities in Geneva.
The statement identifies Govinda Prasad Sharma Koirala (Bandi) as peace and human rights advisor to Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Bandi is scheduled to address the session of UNHRC in that capacity today.
PM’s advisors have to be appointed through Cabinet decision but Bandi does not seem to have been appointed as PM’s advisor by the Cabinet until he left for Geneva Sunday evening. Bimala Rai Paudyal, who was scheduled to lead the Nepali delegation in capacity of foreign minister before she was stopped by PM Dahal just before she was to leave for the airport, told Setopati that she was not aware about Bandi’s appointment as PM Dahal’s advisor.
“The Cabinet decided to keep him as an expert in the delegation that was to be led by me. It had not appointed him as PM’s advisor,” Paudyal, who resigned Monday after CPN-UML decided to quit the government, told Setopati. “I don’t know if the Cabinet meeting was convened after we resigned yesterday and appointed him.”
PM Dahal’s personal secretary Ramesh Malla also told Setopati that he is not aware about Bandi’s appointment.
Bandi led the Nepali delegation after Paudyal was stopped from leaving for Geneva Sunday without any reasons.
PM Dahal clarified Monday that the visit was stopped to ensure that she were not removed from the Cabinet while leading the Nepali delegation in Geneva. “When we went to submit resignation PM said that I was asked to not visit not to insult me but fearing that she would be in an awkward position if there were an environment for other UML leaders to resign while I was there,” Paudyal revealed.
