Kathmandu, September 14:

The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) today approved Shailaja Acharya’s appointment as ambassador to India, even though some Left parties opposed to the decision.

The panel also okayed names of 20 other ambassadorial nominees and now the government may, anytime soon, send an agremo of ambassadors to be accepted by the 21 world capitals.

The Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal and the CPN-Maoist opposed Acharya’s appointment.

Today was the last day for the PHSC to conduct a hearing on the ambassador nominees.

It will now forward its decision to the government unanimously approving the names of the 21 ambassadors.

Due to strong opposition by Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal MP Dilaram Acharya, the PHSC had failed to approve Shailaja’s name on Wednesday.

Acharya had said that Shailaja cannot be appointed an envoy as she had supported the royal regime.

Those approved are Pampha Bhusal, Bijaya Kanta Lal Karna, Yogendra Dhakal, and Dr Rishi Adhikary for France, Denmark, Australia and Malaysia, respectively. All four were nominated by the Maoists.

Others who have been approved by the PHSC are Arjun Bahadur Thapa, Baija Nath Thapaliya and Kamal Koirala for United Arab Emirates, Israel and South Korea, respectively.

The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee also approved the nomination of Dr Suresh Chalise for the United States of America, Surya Nath Mishra for Qatar, Surya Kiran Gurung for Russia, Navin Prakash Jung Shah for Thailand, Murari Raj Sharma for United Kingdom, Ganesh Yonjan for Japan, Pramesh Hamal for Belgium, Tanka Karki for China, Hamid Ansari for Saudi Arabia, Guna Laxmi Sharma BK for Myanmar, Bal Bahadur Kunwar for Pakistan, Dinesh Bhattarai for Geneva, and Pradeep Khatiwada for Bangladesh.