Gurkha pensioners threaten to obstruct British Army recruitment

Published On: January 4, 2020 09:38 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Jan 4: The British Gurkha Satyagraha United Struggle Committee, which has been agitating for over a year demanding equal pension as their British counterparts and compensation for past discrimination, has threatened to obstruct the recruitment of Nepali youths in the British Army.

The selection of Nepali youths in Guruka Rifles of British Army is scheduled to begin in Pokhara next week. The struggle committee has given both Nepal and British governments until February 15 to form a joint talks team to discuss their demands. The committee office bearers organized a press conference on Friday and said they will continue various forms of protest also during the recruitment period.

“We plan to obstruct the Gorkha recruitment process in Pokhara next week. If the governments of Nepal and Britain do not form a talks team within the given deadline, we will launch a more stringent protest,” said the president of the struggle committee, Krishna Bahadur Rai, at a press meet in Kathmandu on Friday.

The committee says that Nepali citizens who joined the British armed forces before 1997 were deprived of equal pay as their British counterparts.

“We will stage protest outside the recruitment office in Pokhara in addition to placing pamphlets and banners drawing attention towards our issues,” said LB Ghising, Nepal coordinator of the committee.

Last year, the committee had threatened to obstruct the Gurkha recruitment process if their demands were not addressed by July 1, 2019. Gurkha ex-servicemen had also staged sit-in in front of the British Gurkha Pension Camps in Dharan and Pokhara accusing Nepal and UK governments of ignoring their demands. But the committee decided to postpone its protests following political transition in the UK.

Earlier a declaration issued by the committee's 'national symposium' in Kathmandu had announced to launch an international human rights campaign if the British government did not take any initiatives to address their grievances.

Earlier, the parliamentary committee on international relations had directed the government to take initiatives to address the concerns of the Gurkha pensioners.