In what is seen as a major decision taken by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) government, the council of ministers on Sunday has decided to recall Royal Nepalese ambassadors to 12 different countries.

Talking to reporters after the meeting of council of ministers at the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar Sunday evening, Minister for Home Krishna Sitaula said the new government had decided to recall Nepali envoys to India, United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan, Russia, France, Thailand, Myanmar, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan.

Those being recalled by the government after the change in the government following the people’s movement 2006 include Royal Nepalese ambassador to India Karna Dhoj Adhikary, Nepali ambassador to China Narendra Raj Pandey, ambassador to UK Prabal Shumsher JB Rana, ambassador to USA Kedar Bhakta Shrestha, ambassador to Russia Hiranya Lal Shrestha, ambassador to France Prajwolla Shumsher JB Rana, ambassador to Thailand Tara Bahadur Thapa and ambassador to Myanmar Victory Rana.

Similarly, Royal Nepalese ambassador to Japan Dr. Rameshananda Vaidya, Royal Nepalese ambassador to Saudi Arabia Abulesh Thakurai, Royal ambassdor to Qatar Shyamananda Suman and Royal Nepalse ambassador to Pakistan Pushkar Man Singh Rajbhandari have also been recalled. Dr. Vaidya is a former member of the National Planning Commission while Rajbhandari is a career diplomat.

Those recalled include retired army generals and intellectuals who supported the royal takeover of February 1, 2005.

Minister Sitaula said the ambassadors had been recalled as they had “toed the autocratic line.” He did not elaborate.

Earlier in the day, the meeting of reinstated House of Representatives had called upon the SPA government to dismiss all the ambassadors appointed by the royal government.

Similarly, the council of ministers headed by Prime Minister G P Koirala also decided to scrap all appointments made after October 4, 2002.

On October 4, 2002, His Majesty King Gyanendra had dismissed a multi-party government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba and took over power briefly. He later appointed three prime ministers in a row before taking over himself on Feb. 1, last year.

As per the government’s decision, all political appointmetns to various corporations and state-owned institutions made by successive governments since October, 2002 will lose their jobs.