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Kathmandu Wednesday December 13, 2000 Mangshir 28, 2057.
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LIVING : an elderly man breaking rocks at Sitapaila, behind Swoyambhunath, in Kathmandu on
Tuesday. Many People, even minors can be seen engaged in such work in Kathmandu Valley to
earn a living. |
Hopes, doubts ahead of
Hoon’s visit
By Satish Jung Shahi
KATHMANDU, Dec 12 - As British Secretary of
State for Defence Geoffrey Hoon lands in the capital on Wednesday for a two-day visit,
former British Gurkha soldiers back home are once again hopeful that the on-going issue of
pension parity will be properly addressed by Britain.
However, high-level officials at the British
Embassy in Kathmandu are saying that chances of British Defence Secretary coming to the
country with a revised pension package is "absolutely nil."
Instead, Embassy officials said that Hoon is
likely to raise the issue of "intimidation" of former British Gurkha soldiers by
the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organization (GAESO), which has spearheaded the
controversial battle against pension parity in the British Army for a number of years.
British officials have been accusing GAESO of
raising funds for its movement by threatening former Gurkha soldiers, in some cases even
demanding half the amount of their increased pension announced last year. GAESO, however,
has denied the charges saying that all contributions have been voluntary.
So far, the British press has termed the
visit as an effort to "repair a tarnished relationship" with the Gurkhas.
On the other hand, high-level officials here,
both at the Ministries for Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Defense (MoD), are maintaining that
there is no fixed agenda on Hoon’s "goodwill visit," and a gamut of issues
on Nepal-Britain relations, especially the Gurkha issue, may be informally discussed.
"Defence Secretary Hoon is here
basically to inspect Gurkha Welfare Trust. We don’t have any fixed agenda during his
visit," said Gyan Chandra Acharya, spokesperson at the MoFA.
Hoon is slated to hold bilateral talks with
Minister for Defence and Finance Mahesh Acharya and Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra
Prasad Bastola tomorrow.
"But, the visit is of great importance
as we have been sharing an extensive relationship with Britain, not only because of the
Gurkha but also because we hold most of our military office training there," Acharya
added.
However, reliable sources both at MoFA and
MoD say that the Nepal government will mainly focus, during Hoon’s visit, on the
issue of Britain denying compensation to Gurkha soldiers who survived the horrors of
Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camps during the Second World War.
United Kingdom recently denied compensation
worth 10,000 pounds each to Gurkhas POWs, citing that the Gurkhas at that time were
"technically Indian Army Units" before 1947. The decision even incited fury in
Britain from a number of MPs.
Meanwhile, the ex-servicemen organizations
here are also positive over Hoon’s visit, especially as he is a former MP holding a
cabinet ministerial post charged with making and executing Defence policy in Britain. He
is also chairman of UK’s Defence Council.
"The government should raise the issue
of pension parity in the British Army. The present diplomatic channel is the best way to
resolve the deserving issue, which many Gurkha soldiers are deprived of," says MP
Narayan Singh Pun, who heads the recently formed Federation of Gurkha Ex-Servicemen Nepal
(FOGESEN).
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