By Yug Bahadur Questions have been raised many times about the appointments of incompetent individuals for the post of ambassadors. Like in the controversy being raised right now on the recommendation of seventeen persons to represent Nepal in foreign countries, this illness had been seen right from the time when the late Girija Prasad Koirala appointed twelve ambassadors not giving a thought to how his decision may destroy the communal harmony not only in his own party, the Nepali Congress, but in the country as well. It was only the late Ganesh Man Singh, who was the 'supreme commander' of the political movement of 1990, who had raised the issue of communalism, but he also wanted a cousin of his to be the ambassador to India. Later after much pressure, Singh's candidate was given this post. This writer is totally against any feeling of communalism, but still, he had remained silent though the late Koirala had appointed all twelve ambassadors from the Brahmin community. This issue in fact was the major cause for the late Ganesh Man to stay away from the Nepali Congress, of which he was one of the founding leaders at a difficult time when the Rana family ruled Nepal under a dictatorial system. While speaking on this issue, this writer remembers when he along with less than half a dozen senior journalists was invited to a cocktail party by a senior American diplomat, who later went on to be the ambassador of his country here and also an expert in his country's national security policy back in Washington DC, had politely questioned the senior journalists present at his house whether the 'tussle', between  Singh and the then prime minister Koirala, was a political one or a communal one? Naturally, as expected, all of them had said it was a political tussle. Then this man then turned to me and asked the same question on a one-on-one basis what I thought on this. I had bluntly replied to him that 'it was a communal issue'. Later this diplomat told me how my other friends had 'turned red in their face' and he believed that actually I had told him the truth. That sort of bluntness sometimes made me disliked by the so-called new 'democrats', but there also many others who appreciated my honest comments and respected me more, like for instance the above-mentioned diplomat who went on to become a very dear friend of mine even after he left Nepal. Like I have repeatedly said, I despise any form of communalism. So I am alarmed to see a communal divide in many parts of the country, like in Dharan for instance, where some ethnic communities are up in arms against those whom they consider as outsiders. I blame the Maoists, who took advantage of certain communities and used them during the armed rebellion started by them a little over two or three decades back. The cunning Maoist leaders, probably due to the instigation and tutoring of foreigners, even promised provinces in the name of different races. This should have been realized by the radical leaders of certain communities, unfortunately for Nepal, the seeds of disharmony had already been sowed by the Maoist leaders who claim to have introduced a republican system and also a new system because of their rebellion. But now we are seeing the negative outcome of such populist but visionless political promises. I had warned of such a situation of racial disharmony many times, but no one listened to such advice, instead, they accused me of being a 'pro-king' person when all I had in mind was the interest of the social harmony in the country. To be a nationalist was virtually a sin in the eyes of the new and older generation of the present prominent political parties. Thousands of innocent Nepalese were killed, but still, leaders of this party starting from Pushpa Kamal Dahal, proudly said 'life should be sacrificed' during a 'progressive' movement. Even former communication minister Rekha Sharma repeated this slogan during an interview with a firebrand TV anchor. Don't they have any shame? How many family members of their own did they lose during their violent protest? Isn't the life of others of any importance for these persons who are enjoying power and prestige now? At this point, still talking about racial disharmony, I would like to mention the name of an over-smart person who has come into the limelight and even become the deputy prime minister. This is none other than Rabi Lamichhane, who is also the president of the newly born party called Rastriya Swatantra Party or the RSP. In a recent talk with journalists, he talked of the percentage of votes received by the two dominant parties who lead the government now. I appreciated his disclosure that this government has only thirty percent of the votes while the opposition had seventy per cent of the support of the people. Still, the question here for Lamichhane is, how many leaders within his own party come from the majority of the populace? Including himself, most others are from only one community that has only eleven per cent of the total population. Is this fair, he has to question himself. It must not be forgotten that this factor becomes a very strong weapon for radical individuals to use to further incite social disharmony. Specially for those, who they say are working for the 'Janjatis' or indigenous community and the marginalized people. This should be understood by those in power and also by the right campaigners of the sidelined communities. The so-called 'rulers' may be able to flee from the nation, but others will have to suffer because of such division and hatred among different communities and races, not surprisingly, these sufferers will be the same citizens for whose rights they say they are fighting for. So those who consider themselves to be 'untouchable' just because they hold the reins of power, be it in the political parties, the government, the civil service and almost all sectors should also have the foresight to really be liberal in their attitude or they may have to face a backlash that none of them had imagined. Now to come back to the appointment of ambassadors, exactly like what the late Girija did, except for one or two persons from the Newar community for which the late Ganesh Man fought, all the others seem to belong to one caste. I have nothing against this, like already said before. The part where any sensible person will complain about is the utter confusion the government, the recommended individuals and also our 'learned' parliament members in the committee have about what the foreign policy of the nation means and who should construct these policies. For example, I got informed through the media, how our newly recommended ambassador to America said he would try to arrange the visit of the US President to visit Nepal. Similarly, others also presented their 'work plans' when they were appointed. One said he would take Nepali players to Spain, another said he would play a role in taking Nepal out from the 'black list' of air safety of the European Union, another said he would contribute in making peace between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. This is laughable, but our decision-makers took such arguments seriously. Doesn't anyone know that the foreign policy of a nation is made by the government? The ambassadors are merely messengers and they only pave the way for, making the government's policy a success. Do you think or imagine that former Indian ambassadors like KV Rajan and Shyam Sharan did what they accomplished in Nepal due to their own desire? No. They acted under the instruction of their government and intelligence agencies like RAW. They didn't come to Nepal with their own agendas. This must be understood fully by our government, political leaders and diplomats as well, that is, to follow government policies and only help in making the way easier for such decisions to be implemented. It is the decision of the government to invite the president of America or say something about the peace process in the Middle East, Ukraine or requesting some countries to give employment to more Nepali citizens, not the decision of any one ambassador or the other. It is no wonder that Nepal has now become so weak and a 'playground' for foreign powers, and our leaders and diplomats are only puppets for outsiders. People like us hope that such a situation will change, but going by the way our leaders and so-called democrats are behaving, this may never happen till the sad time when Nepalis will not be able to proudly claim they are Nepali citizens.