Nepal, Oct. 14 -- In what could be an unprecedented development, the Parliamentary Hearings Committee (PHC) on Wednesday rejected the government's nominations of ambassadors to Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, marking a rare instance of a parliamentary panel turning down nominees forwarded by the government. The decision comes even though an overwhelming majority of the committee members are lawmakers from the ruling party.

The committee rejected the nominations of Giri Bahadur Sunar for Saudi Arabia and Chuda Mani Kharel for Malaysia after raising questions about their backgrounds and conduct during their respective confirmation hearings.

According to Rastriya Swantantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Deepak Bohara, who is also a member of the PHC, ...