Mahendranagar : Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said that the government has made serious diplomatic efforts for the safe repatriation of students in the captivity of Palestinian rebels to Nepal. 

Addressing the Fourth Convocation Ceremony of the Far-West University here today, PM Prachanda, who is also the Chancellor of the University, expressed sorrow over the Nepali students who lost their lives in the attacks by Palestinian insurgents in Israel on October 7, 2023.     

“I am deeply saddened by the incident in which our students who had gone to Israel as part of the ‘Earning while Learning’ programme of the Far-West University’s Institute of Agriculture lost their lives in the attacks by the Palestinian rebels,” he said, and extended tribute to those students killed in the incident as well as expressing condolences to their family members.     

The Prime Minister stated that the government has been fulfilling with alacrity the responsibility it has to undertake to bring back to Nepal the students who were injured and affected by the incident, and to repatriate the bodies of those killed in the attack.     

“Even now a student is in the captivity of the rebels. Necessary diplomatic initiatives are going on for returning him to Nepal,” the PM said. Bipin’s release will also be agenda during Qatari Amir’s visit to Nepal, says PM     

Speaking in the same programme, Prime Minister Prachanda said the topic of taking initiatives for securing the release of Bipin Joshi, a Nepali student who is under the captivity of Hamas militants, is included in the agenda during the State visit to Nepal.     

He said that the role that the Qatari Amir can play in Joshi’s release is also included in the agenda of his visit.     

“The government is vigorously playing its role in bringing the affected students home from Israel. Only today morning in an interview to a Kuwaiti television channel, I spoke on Qatar’s role in securing Joshi’s release and also requested to take the initiative to that end,” PM Prachanda said on the occasion.     

PM Prachanda also on the occasion handed medals to the University students who won various medals. Minister for Education, Science and Technology and the University Pro-Chancellor, Sumana Shrestha and Professor of the Kumaun University of Uttarakhand State, India, Prof Diwan Singh Rawat also put their views.     

Three hundred and seventy-six students were graduated in the convocation ceremony, according to the Far-West University.