Some time ago, British ambassador to Nepal, Ronald Nash wrote in TKP, highlighting his government's raise of pension scale to ex-British Gurkha soldiers. However, the recent raise was not up to the minimum and was thus unfair to soldiers who had been ready to lay down their lives for the cause of Britain. Thus, the Gurkha ex-servicemen’s organization has demanded equal pension and other benefits equal to that of British soldiers. Robin Cook, the British foreign secretary has tried to explain that the length of Gurkha service and the pension issue was complex. He said he would be happy to talk to ex-Gurkha pensioners. However, British ambassador Ronald Nash and Defence Attache Dowdle issued a statement saying that the recent minimum pension had satisfied HMG and thus the issue was closed.

The difference in pay between British and Gurkha soldiers still exists in the revised salary scheme of the British Army. Hidden benefits exist for native British soldiers in the form of allowances. Wide discrepancy exists between the leave allowance of British and Gurkha soldiers. If these two officials were paid in the allowances paid to the Gurkhas, these would be the first people to bang Tony Blair’s office at 10 Downing Street. Dowdle argued about the existence of welfare scheme for ex-Gurkhas. These help them and their families in times of poverty. If these pensioners were paid the same fair amount as native British soldiers, most of these people would be well off and thus the need for the welfare scheme would have been non-existent. The people in Britain have better opinion of the hardships of the Gurkhas. One newspaper asked the British government to allow the ex-Gurkhas to live in Britain for their enormous contribution in the service of Britain.

Ambassador Nash and Attache Dowdle have thus not only failed in their duties but have tried to mislead the people. We Gurkhas have been paying income tax to the British government and thus feel we have every right to demand fair treatment. We also would be happy if such incompetent British officials were removed from their offices.