Bar Nepalis from joining foreign armies: alliance

A special Left alliance task force formed by the ruling CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre parties has recommended barring Nepali youths from joining foreign armies, a media report said yesterday.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 Pushpa Kamal Dahal.“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 Nepalis 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 Rs12bn 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.