Bar Nepalis from joining foreign armies: Left alliance

A special Left alliance task force

formed by the ruling CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre parties has

recommended barring Nepal's youths from joining foreign

armies, a media report said today.

The task force also suggested that the previous treaties

and agreements governing Nepali nationals' service in foreign

armies should be scrapped through diplomatic channel, the

Himalayan Times reported.

Around 44,000 Nepali nationals are currently serving in

the Indian and British armies as well as Singapore Police.

The work plan for achieving economic development and

prosperity states that Nepali citizens "will be barred from

joining any foreign army," the paper said.

UML vice-chair and coordinator of the task force Bamdev

Gautam has submitted the report to Prime Minister K P Sharma

Oli and CPN-MC Chair Prachanda.

 

"The (Left) alliance proposed banning Nepalis from

joining foreign armies mainly because Nepal as a member of the

non-alignment movement should not send its youths to join

foreign armies," the paper quoted a left alliance leader as

saying.

In the past too, parliamentary panels had urged the

government to bar Nepalis from joining foreign armies.

Nepal's Supreme Court had passed an order eight years

ago, saying recruitment of Nepalese in Singapore Police Force

was illegal, but that order was not implemented, the paper

said.

There are seven Gurkha regiments, 40 battalions in the

Indian Army with around 40,000 Gurkha soldiers, including in

the Assam rifles, the paper said.

Citing Indian security experts, it said that 70 per cent

of Indian Gurkhas are Nepali citizens.

In 1947, when India gained Independence, a tripartite

agreement among Nepal, India and Britain transferred four

Gurkha regiments from the British Army to the Indian Army.

There are 80,000 ex-Gurkhas, 17,000 Nepalis in Assam

rifles and 11,000 widows receiving welfare fund. They receive

Rs 12 billion from the Indian government annually.

There are around 3,600 Nepalis in British Army and around

400 Nepalis serve in Singapore Police Force. Eligible Nepalis

for Singapore Police Force are selected by ex-British Gurkhas.