Nepal again tries to junk Gorkha pact

NEW DELHI: In the middle of the row over Nepal’s new map, Kathmandu on Friday reiterated that the India-Nepal-UK treaty on Gorkha soldiers was redundant. The remark was made by Nepalese foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali in a virtual conference during which he also said that India didn’t respond well to Nepal’s proposal for a dialogue on the Kalapani border dispute.
Gyawali had last year too described the treaty as irrelevant, suggesting that it wasn’t appropriate for a sovereign nation to allow its citizens to serve in foreign armies. Nepal, in fact, was reported to have approached the UK in February for a review of the tripartite agreement, which is meant to facilitate recruitment and deployment of Gorkha soldiers and also finalise their perks and other incentives, and to replace it with a bilateral one.
Kathmandu Post had earlier reported that the Nepal foreign ministry had sent a letter to the UK seeking a review of the agreement. This was after Nepali PM K P Oli first raised the issue during his meeting with then UK PM Theresa May. The tripartite agreement is apparently seen by many Gorkha veterans as discriminatory on the issue of remuneration for Nepalis serving in the British and Indian armies. Gyawali later confirmed that Nepal wanted separate agreements with India and the UK.