Prime Minister Oli’s India Visit: Dates Leak to Media, But Foreign Ministry and Embassy Unaware

Kathmandu — Although news reports have already published specific dates for Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to India, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems unaware of these details. According to reports, Oli is scheduled to visit India on September 16 and 17, but both Nepal’s Foreign Ministry and the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu expressed surprise at this information.

An official at the Foreign Ministry said, “The visit dates were leaked by the Prime Minister’s Office. Normally, dates are never revealed two months in advance like this. Such early disclosure can even affect the visit itself.” He added, “The Prime Minister’s Office leaked the information, but now we are the ones who have to answer for it.”

The Foreign Ministry has yet to officially confirm the visit dates. Its spokesperson, Lok Bahadur Kshetri, said, “At this stage, all we can say is that the Prime Minister will visit India. But we cannot say exactly when.”

Diplomatic Protocol Questioned

Foreign affairs expert and former ambassador Vijay Kant Karn criticized the leak from the Prime Minister’s Office, calling it a breach of diplomatic protocol. He noted that the ministry had no knowledge of the dates being circulated in the media and suggested that the Prime Minister may have been impatient to announce the visit.

Karn pointed out that two months is a long time and many things could change before then. “If the visit doesn’t happen on the leaked dates, it will send a bad message,” he explained. He also clarified that it is standard practice to announce high-level visit dates only a few days in advance, once all preparations are complete. According to him, the information was leaked hastily just to create an impression.

Context of the Visit

Prime Minister Oli is set to visit India a year after being appointed. Although he wanted to visit India earlier in his term, no formal invitation had come from the Indian side. To prepare for the visit, Foreign Minister Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba traveled to Delhi several times, but the visit could not be finalized at that time.

Eventually, India extended an invitation to Oli, and the dates were fixed. However, the visit is expected to last only two days.

An official from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu also said they had no information about the visit, stating, “Nepal’s media has been reporting on the dates citing the Prime Minister’s Office, but we have not been informed about any such schedule.”