Mission At Home
The famed Gurkha soldiers could take up the job of initial monitoring of arms and armies
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
Although they have earned name and fame working overseas, the Gurkha soldiers could finally get the opportunity to show their skills within their country – but in a peace mission.
The government has invited the ex-Gurkha soldiers who have served in British or Indian army to work as independent monitors of the management of arms and armies of the Maoists and the Nepali Army.
 |
Maoist cantonment : time to monitor
|
As the United Nations monitors could take more time to arrive and start their monitoring job, the government and the Maoists have agreed to recruit ex-Gurkhas to monitor arms.
The two sides have reached understanding agreed to recruit ex-Gurkha soldiers who have served and retired from British or Indian army. The meeting between the talks team members of the government and the Maoists held on Thursday (December 21) evening in presence of Ian Martin, the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary General, agreed to appoint around 111 ex-Gurkha soldiers within a week and send them for monitoring purposes before the actual UN monitors arrive and take up the job.
The call for applications from interested ex-Gurkhas were made the following day. The selected ex-Gurkha soldiers will first be provided with two-day training and then sent to monitor the cantonments.
Meanwhile, a delegation of 35 ex-Gurkha soldiers who have served in Britain , India and Singapore met with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Sunday (December 24) at Baluwatar.
The delegation led by Deepak Gurung sought detailed information about the government and the Maoists’ decision to recruit ex-Gurkha soldiers. They also urged the PM to amend the understanding to allow all ex-Gurkhas to apply for the monitoring job. At present, only those ex-Gurkha soldiers who have served and retired in the last three years will be eligible to write the application.
The two sides have agreed to screen the applicants and recruit eligible ones within the end of this week. After giving them two-day training, the selected persons will be dispatched to seven major and 21 sub cantonment areas to take up the duty of 24 hour monitoring.
The government has already started sending containers imported from India to the seven cantonment sites. The Maoists have said that two containers per cantonment would be adequate enough to store their weapons. Similar quantity of weapons will be similarly deposited by Nepali Army.
And the weapons and the movement of Maoist army will have to be monitored round-the-clock by the ex-Gurkhas till the official UN monitors arrive to take over the jobs.
“The selection of ex-Gurkhas will be completed within a week. Then, two to four days afterwards, we expect the interim constitution to be promulgated and interim government and the parliament formed paving the way for timely holding of the Constituent Assembly elections by mid-June,” said senior Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai.
At a time when the government and the Maoists are working to recruit ex Gurkhas for the monitoring job, a senior ex-army official of British Gurkhas has already claimed that they capable and willing to monitor the management of arms and armies. Central Secretary of Gurkha Ex Servicemen Organization (GAESO) Mahendra Lal Rai recently told media that he feels “proud” that the leaders have finally thought that they are capable to do it.
“We are quite capable of handling all kinds of modern weapons. Here, we have seen that most weapons that will have to be managed belong to the 1960s era,” said Rai, claiming that ex servicemen are technically capable of doing the job. “Besides, we have lots of experience of being involved in internal strife and wars,” he added.
