Many people had believed that Krishna Prasad Bhattarai is expert in diplomacy. But the notion fell like a house of cards in his first foreign visit. In his address at the UN General Assembly he raised the issue of the Bhutanese refugee issues, when Nepalese Foreign Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat was holding talks with his Bhutanese counterpart. The two countries had agrees during the 8th round of talks last month to find a solution to the problem by bilateral means.

Bhutan’s reaction to Bhattarai’s childish diplomacy is yet to be seen. But how unfruitful Bhattarai’s utterance was seen when he correct his statement in an interview to the BBC.  He said,” I have raised the issue in the international forum, but I have not internationalised it.” Even people in the diplomatic circle as saying Bhattarai’s trip to New York was useless. Bhattarai had gone to New York at such a time when the heads of the government of the donor countries had already left and those of the South Asian countries had not reached there.

Meanwhile, Bhattarai’s meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London was also without any relevance. After he had already hold talks with the British foreign minister in New York it was useless for him to repeat the same thing to the British Prime Minister.

Again, in his interview with the BBC, Bhattarai also said the deployment of Gurkha troops in East Timor depends on the British government, as thus he indirectly helped in the independence of the East Timor. According to a person here who is well versed with diplomacy, Nepal had so far taken a policy of keeping quiet on the East Timor issue. But, instead, the prime minister has endorsed the policy of breaking up of a country.

Beside these, the Prime Minister also expressed his willingness to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. But this is beyond Nepal’s diplomatic capacity. The Prime Minister has, thus, destroyed the very foundation of Nepal’s diplomacy, nurtured over the years. This is taken as a complete failure of his advisors in the diplomatic front.

(Deshantar, October 10, Sunday)