KATHMANDU, JUNE 19
The International Committee of the House of Representatives has again summoned Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to respond to lawmakers' queries about the United States State Partnership Programme and his upcoming visit to the US. The panel had summoned the PM earlier also, but he did not appear before it.
CPN (Unified Socialist) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is also a member of the panel, said at a press conference that the PM might have deferred the meeting due to his busy schedule, but he should appear before the panel to respond to lawmakers' queries.
On June 13, the committee had summoned Deuba to respond to lawmakers' concern about his upcoming visit to the United States.
Lawmakers, particularly those from the leftist parties, had expressed concern about the PM's visit, saying he could sign an agreement with the American government to implement State Partnership Programme that could bring Nepal closer to the US Indo-Pacific Strategy, which is against Nepal's non-alignment policy.
The House panel had decided to invite Deuba and Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka to the committee to discuss the implementation of foreign policy, as some questions were being raised about the PM's US visit in the context of Nepal's stated policy of panchsheel, non-alignment, and Nepal's adherence to the UN Charter. The PM is likely to visit the US in mid-July.
A secretariat meeting of the CPN-UML had assailed the government for its alleged foreign policy deviations. UML leader Pradeep Kumar Gyawali had said that the government's foreign policy deviations could push the country into a geopolitical conflict. Even the Chief Whip of the CPN-Maoist Centre, Dev Prasad Gurung, had urged the PM to cancel his trip to the US.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
