A day before the US President Barack Obama announced a new Afghan strategy, Prime Minister Gordon Brown extended the UK’s support to the NATO forces. Brown vowed to send an additional 500 troops to war-torn Afghanistan to fight the heavily-armed Taliban. This development has unleashed a sense of anxiety among families of Gurkha soldiers.
Will Obama succeed in crushing down the Taliban with Brown’s military support? This is not the question families of Gurkha soldiers are raising. The query they have in their minds at the moment is, undoubtedly, the manner in which the UK will deploy Gurkha soldiers in Afghanistan, which has already claimed lives of three Gurkha soldiers.
There is, however, virtually no information regarding what role the Gurkha soldiers will have in the upcoming days. Is the Great Britain sending Gurkhas, too, along with British soldiers? On which front/s will the UK deploy Gurkha soldiers? I have tried to find answers to these questions by contacting all sources available in Nepal but in vain. No one was able to give anything on it.
The British government must not overlook complex relations Nepal and Afghanistan share while deploying Gurkha soldiers in the war-torn Helmand province.
Kathmandu-based UK government’s agencies shied away from making any comments regarding Gurkha soldiers’ role. The reason behind their unwillingness is understandable. Former Gurkha soldiers’ associations’ inability of shedding light on the matter is also understandable. The tough that hides behind the Great Britain is the Nepali government: Why our government has failed so pathetically to say anything about the likelihood of the deployment of Gurkha soldiers in Afghanistan? Why is it not at all serious to extract more information about Gurkha soldiers and letting their families know about their condition and well-being?
In fact, our government has always been indifferent toward the plight of Gurkha soldiers serving in the British forces. The Great Britain has been recruiting Gurkhas into their armed forces ever since the Treaty of Sugauli, 1816. But, our government has never asked the Great Britain to respect the spirit of the treaty though it was superseded in Dec 1923 as a “treaty of perpetual peace and friendship”.
In the past, Britain has repeatedly done injustices to Gurkhas. In what could be termed as a violation of the treaty, it forced a number of Gurkha soldiers to return home empty-handed once the war was over. And widows of many soldiers continue to languish in a pitiful condition.
Over a decade and half, different associations of former Gurkha soldiers have been fighting legal battles in British courts for their rights. But, our government has not even on a single occasion come forward to speak up in favor of Gurkhas. It never dared criticize the Great Britain for the injustice done to the Nepali citizens.
Only recently, after so many years, was there a news report of Nepal government writing to the British government to not overlook issues of Gurkhas. If our government takes such a long time just to place a request on behalf of the Gurkhas, then one can imagine how many more years it will take to fully stand by their cause.
All these years we have never failed to flay the Ranas for imposing an oligarchy that stifled Nepal’s growth and development for over a century. However, looking back, the Ranas, it seems, were more farsighted when it comes to maintaining diplomatic relations. History has it that a Rana prime minister had asked the British government to treat Gurkhas on a par with the British soldiers.
Not a single leader has been as bold as Ranas in terms of taking a firm stance in favor of Gurkhas in present days. Even those who made a huge outcry, fearing the cessation of remittance inflow once all Gurkha families get settled in the UK, are keeping mum when there exists real chances of Nepalis getting killed in Afghanistan.
With Brown’s recent announcement, the fear of losing their dear-ones has completely engulfed families of Gurkha soldiers back in Nepal. Their fear is genuine, given the past experience. Apart from those three who died, many more sustained injuries in Afghanistan.
It is learned that the British government prefers to deploy Gurkha soldiers at the forefront of the battlefields because they possess an innate skill to mingle with unfamiliar people quickly. Besides, they can speak Hindi language, which is common among local Afghans as well as Taliban. Such qualities of Gurkha soldiers have pushed them into a perilous situation. One may argue that the Great British has the right to deploy Gurkha soldiers wherever it wants. Yes, of course. No one begs to differ. Yet, there is some room on the part of our government to speak for reduction of the risks faced by the British Gurkhas.
Our government should not be oblivious of the brutal massacre of 12 Nepali job-aspirants in Iraq. Five years ago, a Muslim terror outfit abducted and eventually killed those Nepalis who had unwittingly landed in Iraq with hope of making some quick bucks to support their families. They had done no harm to the outfit. The sole reason why they were executed was that they hailed from the country of Gurkha soldiers. The Gurkhas themselves got dragged into the deadly war after the US launched a massive crackdown, in the wake of 9/11 attack, on whom they believed to be terrorists along with the military support of ally countries including the UK.
The outfit mistook all Nepalis for Gurkhas and killed innocent people who had nothing to do with the US and the UK. It is possible, though, they were aware of the fact that all the Nepalis were not Gurkha soldiers fighting on behalf of the UK. But it is certain that they would have killed them as an act of revenge on Gurkhas.
Even now, possibilities of untoward incidents caused by mistaken identities in Afghanistan cannot be ruled out. Also, Talibans can take revenge on Gurkha soldiers by killing innocent Nepalis who go to Afghanistan and Pakistan in pursuit of better livelihood.
The UK should not overlook such a complexity in which the Nepalese and Afghans have been entangled due to the deployment of more troops. The war waged by powerful countries should not trigger disharmony between/among peoples of the developing countries of the same region.
If the UK ignores the impending threat of the loss of Gurkha lives, our government needs to step out to prevent another massacre of innocent Nepalis as in Iraq. Above all, we have the right to know about our people though they are bound to fight anywhere the UK wants them as its soldiers.
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yess!!i strongly agree wit this article...my father is a british army....he went through many tough stuffs...please nepal government!!!dun sit back...DO SUMTHIN!!! God bless nepal and uk!!
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Angel
I do not know what the writer is trying to get at with the article? He acknowledges the fact that the Gurkhas are duty bound to serve wherever the British Government sees fit, and yet feels the British need to justify deploying Gurkhas to Afghanistan, and take into account the disharmony it may generate among the South Asian countries. Let me remind him that it was not just the Nepalis who were executed in Iraq but people from different countries, which had no involvement in waging war and sub
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Ajay
Good analytical article. Question raised is very sensible, but our government is ridiculous in fact do not poses prudence. Britain even India is a country who even is ready to put the nation in trouble for an individual×™ life.
What I am going to say is not that Gurkhas should not be sent, I am just saying that government should take care for their citizen´s whereabouts and should argue in respect of their rights and interest when time reports.
Thank you for writing on a topic that is reported very weakly in the media. However, I would like to argue against some of the points you make in your commentary.
The Gurkhas are in Afghanistan because they signed up to be involved with the British Army. So when you say "Why our government has failed so pathetically to say anything about the likelihood of the deployment of Gurkha soldiers in Afghanistan?", you don't quite expla
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Anup Kaphle
Rai ji, I agree with you but since they are British soldiers, who voluntarly went for the job, the British government has the right to deploy any and every of its soldiers where ever it pleases. I know that you being a Nepali have your concerns about our fellow brothers who are in the British army and so do I, but again it is the British government to deploy its soldiers whom she has trained, given a job and social security when they retire, isnt it?
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