B'desh likely to send its envoy packing
KATHMANDU: Bangladesh is considering recalling its ambassador to Nepal, Neem Chandra Bhowmik, amid allegations by a section of Bangladeshi media that he was involved in activities that violate diplomatic decorums.
According to three different sources, Bhowmik is under consideration for a recall by November, one year before his three-year term expires.
On July 15, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry sent a senior official, Joint-Secretary Mullah Farhadul Islam, to its Nepal mission with the assignment of Deputy Chief of Mission. Islam is said to have been told to take the charge until a new envoy is fixed after Bhowmik's departure. “You will soon see a new face at our embassy,” a senior official of Nepal's foreign ministry told The Himalayan Times quoting Islam as telling him during a recent meeting with him.
Bhowmik, a professor of the Department of Applied Physics, Electronics and Communications Engineering of Dhaka University, was appointed ambassador to Nepal in November 2009.
Bangladeshi media have of late portrayed him as a 'corrupt and inefficient person'. Allegations against him include taking huge sum of money for providing MBBS scholarships to Nepali students, having affairs with Nepali women and taking along non-diplomatic staff while meeting senior Nepali officials.
Ambassador Bhowmik, however, has denied the charges, saying the allegations were part of a conspiracy by those who wanted to belittle his ambassadorial achievements. “Some anti-government and anti-liberal sections are trying to tarnish my image by pressing false charge against me,” the envoy told THT. “I have done much more than any other (envoy) to strengthen relationship between Bangladesh and Nepal.”
Regarding the charges that he was involved in raking in money from students aspiring to do MBBS in Bangladesh, the envoy said the scholarships are decided through an independent committee and that there was no question of wrongdoing. Sources said Bhowmik termed the allegations part of a deliberate plan of the foreign ministry to recall him because 'he is a Hindu and a political appointee'. Bangladesh, in the last 40 years, has mostly sent career diplomats as its envoys to Nepal. Bhowmik, a Hindu, is one of three political appointees since diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in April 1972.
Last week, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni formed a probe panel to investigate the envoy’s alleged misdemeanours. The panel has been authorised even to recall him if he is found guilty. The panel had called Bhowmik to Dhaka last week to furnish clarifications. The ambassador returned from Dhaka yesterday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, maintained that it was unaware about Bhowmik’s alleged activities in Nepal. “There is no official correspondence from Bangladeshi authority to this effect,” said Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai.
The Himalayan Times : B'desh likely to send its envoy packing - Detail News : Nepal News Portal