Senior British Defence Ministry official to visit Nepal

A senior official of the UK Ministry of Defence is visiting Nepal at the end of April to “listen to the concerns of the retired Gurkha community”.

John Pitt-Brooke, a senior UK MoD official, who will lead a small team to Nepal, will meet with ex-Gurkha community in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Dharan and discuss their concerns, the British Embassy said. He will not meet officials of the Nepal government during this stay.

“This visit is to follow up the Government of Nepal’s request that the UK should listen to the concerns of the retired Gurkha community. The UK Defence Minister has already met ex-Gurkha representatives in the UK to do just this,” an embassy release said.

The British officials will not, however, make any new announcements regarding the facilities to ex-Gurkha during the visit. They are here also to start work on formalising an agreement with the Government on the Gurkha Review.

“The conclusion of this work is expected to lead to a UK Ministerial visit to Nepal later in the year,” the embassy further said.

The UK Defence Ministry official is visiting Nepal in the wake of continuous protests by former British Gurkhas who have been complaining of indiscrimination in pension and other benefits. nepalnews.com mk Apr 19 07