Nepal Names Controversial Maoist Leader As Envoy To India

Kathmandu, Nov 8: A senior Maoist leader, whom India once suspected to have links with underground organisations in north-eastern India, has been named as Nepal's new ambassador to India, months after the post lay vacant with the recall of the former envoy appointed by an earlier government.

The proposed new Nepali ambassador to India is Ram Karki, who is married to an Indian from Sikkim and was known as Partha Chhetri during the 10-year Maoist insurgency.

Karki had lived in West Bengal and New Delhi during the "People's War" and was arrested by Indian police and handed over to Nepal to serve a jail term. He was released after the government started peace negotiations with the Maoists in 2003.

When the Maoists first came to power in Nepal in 2008 after winning the election, the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda's cabinet nominated Karki, in his 50s, as the ambassador to India.
However, India objected to the proposal on the strength of its intelligence reports that Karki had links to Indian insurgent groups in the North-East and the subsequent fall of the government led to Nepali Congress nominee Rukma Shumsher Rana get the coveted diplomatic post.

From: http://ping.fm/wU0xa