CHITWAN: Renu Dahal, the Mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, currently in London for a program, held discussions with Nigel Evans, the Deputy-Speaker of the UK House of Commons, on Thursday. The meeting covered various topics, including Nepal-UK relations and the welfare of Gurkha soldiers serving in the British Army. Both parties also explored the historical […]
KATHMANDU, Feb 2: The Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen's Organization (GAESO) has asked the British government, and specifically General Sir Patrick Sanders, chief of army staff of Britain, who is on a visit to Nepal to address the long-standing inequalities faced by Nepali Gorkha soldiers.
KATHMANDU, Feb 2: The Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen's Organization (GAESO) has asked the British government, and specifically General Sir Patrick Sanders, chief of army staff of Britain, who is on a visit to Nepal to address the long-standing inequalities faced by Nepali Gorkha soldiers.
The United Kingdom (UK) has been positive about granting the children of the retired Gurkha soldiers residential visas to remain in the UK if they are under the age of 18 at the time of their parent's retirement. The British side seemed open to the demand in Monday's meeting of the technical committee formed as part of the efforts made by the British and Nepali governments to solve the problems being faced by former Gurkha soldiers, informed retired Gurkha Jud Bahadur Gurung. Gurung also said that they made it clear that pension was their main issue. "The UK side has said they will get back with details after consulting with the minister," he said. The Embassy of Nepal in London also confirmed that a technical-level meeting was held between the embassy officials, the UK's Ministry of Defence and representatives of former Gurkha soldiers to address the demands of the ex-soldiers.
LONDON, Nov 1: Government level talks will be held between the UK and Nepal to discuss the demands of ex-Gurkha soldiers retired from the British Army.
JUNE 6: Ben Wallace said the M270 multiple-launch rocket system will help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.
The UK government has not confirmed how many weapons will be sent, but the BBC understands it will be three initially.
The decision was co-ordinated with the US, which announced last week it was also supplying a rocket system.
The move by the US has already angered Moscow and on Sunday Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to expand the list of targets Russia will attack in Ukraine if Western countries send long-range weapons to Kyiv.
The UK government said the Ukrainian military will be trained in how to use the launchers in the UK in the coming weeks.
Announcing the move, Mr Wallace said the UK was taking a leading role in supplying Ukrainian troops with the "vital weapons they need to defend their country from unprovoked invasion".
He said: "As Russia's tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine.
"These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin's forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities."
Britain and America have led the way in supplying weapons to Ukraine, but giving it advanced long range rockets marks a significant shift, said the BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Beale.
It is also a recognition that Ukraine is struggling to compete against Russia's vast artillery arsenal, he added.
The UK's multiple launch rocket system can fire 12 surface-to-surface missiles within a minute and can strike targets within 50 miles (80km) with pinpoint accuracy - far further than the artillery Ukraine currently possesses.
It is similar to the system the US is sending, the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Last week Washington said it would supply four HIMARS multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine - following receipt of guarantees they would be used for defensive purposes only and not to strike targets inside Russia.
In an interview on Russian state TV on Sunday, Mr Putin said: "In general, all this fuss about additional arms supplies, in my opinion, has only one goal - to drag out the armed conflict as long as possible."
The Russian leader said what the US was supplying was "nothing new".
But he warned against sending missiles with longer ranges: "If they are supplied, we will draw appropriate conclusions from this and use our weapons, of which we have enough, to strike at those targets that we are not striking yet."
The warning came as explosions shook parts of Kyiv on Sunday in the first assault on the capital city for weeks, while fierce fighting for control of key towns and cities in the eastern Donbas region continues.
Russia refocused its military efforts on the Donbas at the end of March after pulling back from the Kyiv region.
Some of the fiercest fighting is currently in the eastern city of Severodonetsk. Capturing the city would deliver the Luhansk region to Russian forces and their local separatist allies, who also control much of neighbouring Donetsk. The two regions form the heavily industrial Donbas.
On Sunday, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said he had visited front-line troops in the eastern Donbas region to the city of Lysychansk and the town of Soledar.
Britain and the US have are among the leading nations giving arms to support Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.
The UK has also delivered more than 5,000 next generation light anti-tank weapons - known as Nlaw - which analysts believe have been critical to Ukraine driving back Russian ground assaults since the war began.
Other weapon systems delivered by the government include short-range Brimstone 1 missiles, Mastiff armoured vehicles and Starstreak missile air defence systems - with the overall military support to Ukraine costing £750m so far, the government said.
Several other countries have pledged to send advanced weapons to Ukraine. Germany has promised to send its most modern air defence system - the Iris-T - to enable Ukraine to shield an entire city from Russian air attacks.
Support for war crimes investigation
Meanwhile, a specialist team of lawyers and police officers will be offered to assist the chief prosecutor investigating alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine, the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab announced on Monday.
The offer will include a Metropolitan Police officer stationed in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, in the Netherlands - who will provide the ICC's prosecutor Karim Khan with greater access to British police and military expertise.
On top of this, seven lawyers experienced in international criminal law will be offered to help uncover evidence of war crimes committed in Ukraine and prosecute those responsible.
The ICC has already begun an investigation that may target senior Russian officials thought to be responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
Atrocities and mass graves have been reported in towns and cities around Ukraine previously occupied by Russian forces - who withdrew from around the Kyiv and other areas they previously occupied to focus their offensive in the east.
Civilian massacres have been discovered in places like Bucha, a town near the Ukrainian capital, with people found dead in the street, having been allegedly bound, gagged and executed by retreating Russian soldiers.
Ukraine has so far reported 15,000 suspected war crimes, including Ukrainian women alleging being raped by Russian troops.
Some 600 suspects have been identified and 80 prosecutions have begun, with one tank commander already sentenced to life in prison in May, after being found guilty by a Kyiv court of shooting a 62-year-old civilian in the back.
KATHMANDU, June 24: The Great Western Railway in the UK has begun operation of railway service after the name of a former British Gurkha soldier decorated with the Victoria Cross (VC).
The railway service after the name of VC laureate Tul Bahadur Pun was operated from Paddington Railway Station in the British capital London amid a ceremony on Wednesday morning.
The event was attended by British actress Joana Lumley. Lumley’s father James Rutherford was working in the same battalion where Tul Bahadur Pun was serving in then Burma (now Myanmar), during World War II. Joana has been championing the British Gurkhas’ cause for long.
Lumley, who lost her father during the line of service in the British Army, said that she shared emotional ties with the VC Pun’s family. On the inaugural event, Lumley had reminisced how she was welcomed in Pun’s family as daughter when she lost her father to a war, shared NRN-UK former president Yog Kumar Fagami.
Present on the occasion were VC Pun’s son Arjun Tilija and her daughter Megh Kumari Pun as well as the representatives from Nepali diaspora in the UK.
The inaugural of railway service marked the day when Pun was decorated with the VC Award, one the prestigious awards conferred by the British Queen in recognition of the gallantry of the soldiers in the British Army. Pun was awarded with the VC medal for his valour in the Second World War when he was only 21 years old.
Fagami viewed that the inaugural of railway service in the name of VC Pun was not an honour to Pun alone but it was a matter of pride for all the Nepalis. It reflected British government’s honour to Nepal.
Pun was born in Myagdi district of Nepal on 23 March 1923. He passed away on 20 April 2011 in Nepal.
Such a glorious event however missed the presence of representatives from Nepal's diplomatic mission in the UK and former Gurkha’s organizations and Nepalis’ organizations.
“If the event could see their presence, it would add an extra edge to the event,” opined Fagami.
LONDON, June 25: The Great Western Railway in the UK has begun operation of railway service after the name of a former British Gurkha soldier decorated with the Victoria Cross (VC).
The railway service after the name of VC laureate Tul Bahadur Pun was operated from Paddington Railway Station in the British capital London amid a ceremony on Wednesday morning.
The event was attended by British actress Joana Lumley. Lumley’s father James Rutherford was working in the same battalion where Tul Bahadur Pun was serving in then Burma (now Myanmar), during the World War II. Joana long has been championing the British Gurkhas’ cause.
Lumley, who lost her father during the line of service in the British Army, said that she shared emotional ties with the VC Pun’s family. On the inaugural event, Lumley had reminisced how she was welcomed in Pun’s family as daughter when she lost her father to a war, shared NRN-UK former president Yog Kumar Fagami.
Present on the occasion were VC Pun’s son Arjun Tilija and her daughter Megh Kumari Pun as well as the representatives from Nepali diaspora in the UK.
The inaugural of railway service marked the day when Pun was decorated with the VC Award, one the prestigious awards conferred by the British Queen in recognition of the gallantry of the soldiers in the British Army. Pun was awarded with the VC medal for his valour in the Second World War when he was only 21 years old.
Fagami viewed that inaugural of railway service in the name of VC Pun was not an honour to Pun alone but it was a matter of pride for all the Nepalis. It reflected British government’s honour to Nepal.
Pun was born in Myagdi district of Nepal on 23 March 1923. He passed away on 20 April 2011 in Nepal.
Such a glorious event however missed the presence of representatives from the Nepal’s diplomatic mission in the UK and former Gurkha’s organizations and Nepalis’ organizations.
“If the event could see their presence, it would add an extra edge to the event,” opined Fagami.
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