Human rights activists in Nepal Saturday denounced the British government for its alleged policy of discrimination against ex-Gurkhas on salaries and other benefits.
At a three-day conference here, organized by the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen's Organization (GAESO), former Nepalese Premier Kritinidhi Bista said Gurkhas were sent to fight alongside the British soldiers yet were discriminated against when it came to pay and other remunerations. "The British policy of discrimination against the Gurkhas is quite deplorable," Bista said.
The three-day meeting was attended by human rights activists from the UK, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. "They expressed their views that the Gurkhas should be paid their just dues on par with their British counterparts," general secretary of the GAESO," Yam Bahadur Gurung said.
Under an agreement dating from 1947, the pay of Nepalese Gurkhas is linked to rates in the Indian army rather than the British army -- meaning the Gurkhas receive as much as 13 times less than their British counterparts.
Nepalese communist leader Padma Ratna Tuladhar said the policy of paying Gurkhas less than their British counterparts was an "injustice" that would be brought before the upcoming 57th conference of the United Nations Human Rights Commission next month as well as the Anti-Racial World Conference being held in Africa in August.
A former Bangladeshi supreme court judge, K.N. Subhan, said that a country like Britain should not treat the Gurkha soldiers in such a discriminatory manner.
"The demand placed before the British government by the Gurkhas for equal payment is quite just," Subhan said.
GAESO's Gurung said: "We (Gurkhas) will be fighting for justice to the end. We have been treated like footmats by the British government." – KATHMANDU (AFP)
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