UK compensates 578 ex-Gurkha POWs

The British government has said it has made ex-gratia payment of 10,000 pound sterling (Rs.13,68,700) to each of 578 ex-British Gurkha soldiers who were Japanese Prisoners of War (POW) during the World War II.

In a statement today, the Kathmandu-based British embassy said the 578th former POW received compensation recently and that there were still a large number of claims to be processed and paid.

"The British government representatives working on establishing the authenticity of claims still believe that there are many more ex-Gurkhas still in the community who would have a legitimate claim to this ex-gratia payment," the embassy stated.

Recipients of the compensation are found to be from almost every part of Nepal while majority of them are from West Nepal. A number of payments have also been made to applicants living in India. A team of British officials will visit India again in May to accept and process the applications from there, the embassy said.

Widows, and in certain cases other dependants, may also claim if the soldier has died, according to the embassy.

British and locally employed officials began accepting applications since April 2004 and until now 1800 individuals from across Nepal and India have lodged claims. Of them, over 1500 individuals have been interviewed so far.

This number of applicants, according to the British embassy, represents about half the number of ex-Gurkha soldiers estimated to have been captured by the Japanese. Those who are yet to come forward would be encouraged to do so, the embassy said.

Initially, the British team carrying out assessment of the claims had very little information on the former POWs when it started work in April, last year. In November 2004, a list containing the names of nearly 1000 former Gurkha POWs was discovered by a former British Gurkha officer's widow who forwarded the names to the team in Nepal. A month later, a similar but a smaller list was sent from a British officer now based in Australia.

"Although it still takes a lot longer than we would like to fully investigate claims, the discovery of these two remarkable lists alone has enabled us to approve over 200 cases," the statement quoted James Gondelle, head of the British team assessing the claims, as saying.

Gondelle added: "We hope more lists can be found which will let us pay even more ex-Gurkhas who became POWs under the Japanese in Singapore." nepalnews.com mbk Mar 14 05

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