Unified CPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal today called Nepali envoy to Qatar Maya Kumari Sharma, asked her to resign from her post and return to Nepal.

According to Shiva Khakurel, Dahal’s personal aide, Dahal told her so over the phone following an understanding among top party leaders to seek her resignation after it came to light that her activities in Qatar were against diplomatic practices and etiquettes and could spoil Nepal-Qatar relations.

She was appointed ambassador to Qatar from UCPN-M quota by the then Baburam Bhattarai-led government in May 2011. Nepali diaspora in Qatar had demanded that she be recalled following her undiplomatic behaviour, including her effort to deport a Nepali migrant worker, who criticised her for her ineptness. Also in an interview with the BBC’s Sajha Sawal, she said Qatar was an ‘open jail’ for Nepali workers. The government of Qatar took exception to her remarks and asked the Nepali government to take action against her.

“Lesson from the Sharma episode is that we have to be prudent while selecting envoys,” a MoFA official told THT

Published on: 21 September 2013 | The Himalayan Times