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Whenever India-China or India-Pakistan border tensions flare up, one of the first concerns in Nepali minds is the fate of the frontline Gurkha soldiers. Accompanying this concern is a query about whether time has come for Nepal to rethink the recruitment of Nepali nationals into the Indian Army.

Same kinds of queries are now being raised as India and China face-off in Ladakh. If it comes to that, is it right for Nepali nationals to fight China, its immediate and vital neighbor, on behalf of a third country? Forget China. Is it even morally right to allow your citizens to serve as mercenaries?

With tensions against China mounting, the Gurkha soldiers of the Indian Army who are on leave in Nepal are now being summoned back to duty. In this light, the splinter Maoist group led by Netra Bikram Chand, in a June 20 statement, ‘reminded’ India to desist from using Nepali soldiers against China. 

Despite such concerns, Nepal is in no position to ask India not to use the Gurkhas against China, nor is it the current priority of any of Nepal’s major political parties. “We have to accept the reality that they are part of the Indian defense system. We can do nothing about it,” says political analyst Krishna Khanal. Though it is an emotional issue for Nepalis, he argues, the Indian defense force can deploy them as they wish.

Over the past 60 or 70 years, Nepal’s communist parties used this issue as a political instrument whenever they were out of power, Khanal adds. For instance, stopping recruitment into the Indian army was one of the 40 demands put forth by the mother Maoist party in 1996, right before they launched their insurgency.

During the insurgency, the Maoist party continued to raise this issue. But after joining peaceful politics in 2006, the party abandoned this agenda. Now Gurkha recruitment does not find a mention in the political documents of Nepal Communist Party, the ruling party formed after the merger of the mother Maoists and erstwhile CPN-UML. The Chand faction, plus some other fringe communist outfits, however, has continued to give voice to it.

“In the past, the CPN-UML, like other communist parties, also raised the issue of recruitment into Indian Army for political benefit. But it dropped the agenda when it came to power,” says Ashok Mehta, a retired general of the Indian Army who closely follows Nepal.

History’s burden

There is a long history of recruitment of Nepali nationals into the Indian and British armies. The British started enlisting Nepalis in their colonial army from 1815 when it set up the Gurkha regiments. After India’s independence, six Gurkha regiments were retained in the Indian Army while the British Army got four. Now, there are seven Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army, with 40 battalions and a total of 40,000 soldiers.

Nepal has never brought up the issue of revisiting Gurkha recruitment with India. But Nepal did send a note to Britain in February this year, seeking a review of the tripartite agreement signed in 1947 between Nepal, India and Britain that split the Gurkha regiments between India and Britain. In an initial reaction, Britain refused to make any changes in the agreement. Before that, Prime Minister KP Oli had raised the issue during his bilateral talk with then British Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019.

In 2016, Nepal and India formed the Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG) to study the entire gamut of bilateral relations and to suggest modifications. The EPG prepared a report covering all bilateral issues but not Gurkha soldiers. “We did not discuss Gurkha recruitment as it was beyond our jurisdiction. But the two countries can always discuss this,” says Surya Nath Upadhyay, a member of the Nepal half of the EPG. He says it is a sensitive issue and needs to be dealt with finesse.

Till date, Nepalis continue to be recruited into the Indian Army. Lured by attractive salary, pensions, and other social security benefits, they join the Indian Army and take oath to protect India’s national interests. According to Mehta, Nepali youths in Indian Army get four times the salary and pensions they would get in Nepal Army.

As of now, there are 126,000 Indian Gurkha pensioners in Nepal, and there is an Indian Ex-servicemen Welfare Organization in Nepal working for retired army personnel.

“We are in no condition—politically, economically or socially—to stop the recruitment into Indian Army,” says political analyst Khanal. In economic mess created by Covid-19, that prospect appears unlikelier still.

Fighting for India

Gurkha units have a history of fighting India’s key wars including in 1947-48, 1965, and 1971, all of them in Jammu & Kashmir and all against Pakistan. They also took part in the Indo-China war of 1962, and in later skirmishes between the two countries. There are many anecdotal evidences for this.

Writes ex-Indian Army Brigadier CS Thapa in Indian defense magazine Salute, “In 1962 the Chinese used loudspeakers daily against the company of Major Dhan Singh Thapa, PVC [Param Vir Chakra] asking the soldiers to withdraw as they were from Nepal.”

Then, in September-October 1967, the Nepali Gurkha soldiers were deployed against the Chinese at Nathu La pass between India and China. “A Gurkha unit,” according to Indian General V.K. Singh’s accounts, “gave the Chinese side a ‘bloody nose’… on that occasion, occupying a position after a brutal khukri assault.”

During the Doklam crisis in 2017, there were media reports that Gurkha soldiers were deployed at the forefront against China. But Mehta clarifies that Gurkha soldiers were deployed in Doklam only on second or third lines.

“If there are further tensions, China may raise this issue with Nepal stating that Nepali youths are fighting against China on India’s behalf. But so far as I know, China has lodged no such objection till date,” Mehta adds. Officials at Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed their ignorance of any formal Chinese objection to the use of Gurkha soldiers against them.

On June 1, Chuhan Singh Nepali, 48, came back to his village from India’s Dharchula where he worked as a laborer. He appeared normal when he was sent to a quarantine facility established at Janajyoti Basic School at Tikapur-2 of Kailali district. But a few days in, he started behaving differently. Now, after the two-week mandatory quarantine, he keeps staring at things and looks depressed. He cannot sleep at night.

Chuhan lives in a landless squatter settlement at Ganeshpur in the district, and he is among many Nepalis in the area who look after their families with money saved in India. Most of them work as daily-wage laborers. Many of them look mentally disturbed these days.

Bikash BK, 28, who is in the same quarantine, is also having mental issues. He often loses his temper. He has beaten his wife several times in the past few days after he returned from India’s Dehradun, accompanied by his wife and two kids. Once, he tried to run away with the kids, leaving the wife behind.

“Chuhan does not talk to others, and remains withdrawn. His behavior has changed a lot,” says Ranjita Chaudhary, a health worker. “He comes to us complaining of headache. But before we can give him a medicine, he leaves, saying he is fine.”

Jagat Damai, 50, who returned from Hyderabad, was sent to the quarantine facility at Tikapur Polytechnic Institute at Tikapur-1. Within two days, he was behaving strangely. He has already tried to jump off the stairs of the building. He keeps talking nonsense and often cries or yells. Sometimes he does not hear what others say. Ramrati Chuadhary, a health worker at the quarantine, observes: “He has troubled us all. He often asks for tranquilizers.” According to her, people who have spent many weeks in the lockdown in India, and are now having to do the same in Nepal, are showing such strange symptoms.

Many of those returning from India are worried about the absence of Covid-19 tests, besides the economic and social stigma they have to face. These people mostly hail from lower-middle class families and loss of their livelihood is an obvious reason for their distress. As Chaudhary puts it, “Daily wage laborers who have to earn each day’s meal are the worst hit. Due to stress, they have lost their sleep and appetite. They get easily irritated.”

Dharma Singh Batala, public health inspector at Tikapur Municipality, reckons the quarantined people are showing signs of depression due to fears caused by negative thoughts and lack of knowledge. “They don’t get proper counselling about what may happen. They are not able to meet their families, and fear social stigmatization when they return home.”

Those in the quarantine get free wi-fi. And there are health workers to give them basic medicines. But these health workers are not trained in mental counselling. “If they had basic counselling skills, it would be of immense help,” Batala adds. “Often the quarantined people cannot describe what’s happening to them. That makes things difficult for us.”

The Nepali constitution bars discrimination “on grounds of origin, religion, race, caste, tribe, sex, economic condition, language, region, ideology or on similar other grounds”. This constitution itself was drafted by the fully sovereign Constituent Assembly that was elected following a bloody civil war. The hereditary monarchy, blamed for all kinds of social discriminations, was removed and a federal republic heralded in its place. From here on in, all Nepalis would be equal before the law, and those practicing any kind of discrimination would be prosecuted. Or such was the exalted vision. 

In reality, all the kinds of discriminations proscribed by the constitution continue, none more so than the one based on caste. And no other section of the society is as discriminated against as the Dalits, who, according to the 2011 census, make up 13.6 percent of the national population. Scattered all over the country and regarded as the ‘lowest caste’ (or ‘untouchables’) in caste hierarchy, the food they touch is still ‘impure’ for higher cases and they continue to be barred from Hindu temples in parts of Nepal. Sometimes, they may even be murdered.  

On May 23, Nabaraj BK, a Dalit from Jajarkot in western Nepal, and five of his close friends, also Dalits, were chased and beaten, and their injured bodies thrown into a raging river. All of them died. Another 12 friends of BK were injured, at the hands of the ‘high caste’ villagers in Chaurjahari Municipality of Rukum (West) district. BK had planned to elope with his high caste lover and gone to Chaurjaharai with his friends to get her. It turned into the worst nightmare they could have imagined. 

In the ongoing investigation, police have detained 34 suspects for the crime. Yet Dalit activists fear the investigation may not be impartial. “We fear evidences might be tampered with or the investigation might be relaxed if we are not vigilant,” says Pradip Pariyar, executive chairperson at Samata Foundation Nepal, who also identifies as a Dalit Lives Matter activist. “Our team of lawyers and rights activists has visited the incident site and made our own observations. We conclude that this is a premeditated murder fueled by racial discrimination.” 

It is important that the pressure on the government and the judiciary be maintained so that bereaved families can get justice. If the police can sort this out and the perpetrators get punishments that befit their crimes, it will set a strong precedent. It will be a potent show of the state’s intent to wipe out caste-based discrimination. 

At the same time, the state must work more with the NGOs, civil society organizations, and the media to create a new discourse on Dalit empowerment. What are the problems they face and how do we as a society help them deal with them? What kind of message do we give to our youngsters to get them to ditch the discriminatory paths charted by their parents and grandparents? 

It’s a tragedy we have to keep emphasizing that Dalit and Black and Ahmadi and Rohingya lives matter, as if many of us silently believe just the opposite. 

A 21-year-old ‘low caste’ youth is lynched by an unforgiving mob for trying to elope with his lover. Nabaraj BK, a Dalit from Jajarkot, loses his life along with five of his close friends, because he dared love someone from an ‘upper caste’. Another 12 of his friends are injured in the brutal attack, some of them so severely that they are still in trauma and in need of medical attention and psychological counseling.

The incident on May 23, when villagers of Soti in Chaurjahari Municipality, Rukum (West) chased and set upon BK and his friends, was widely misreported at the start, making the intentional murder sound like an accident. But as truth unfolded, it got clearer that young men aged 18-23 did not die by accident.

In the ongoing police investigation involving 34 suspects, some of those detained have admitted to intentional murder and caste-based discrimination.

And what did we do about it? We were outraged. We were distressed. We were embarrassed. But for how long? We shared photos and graphics on social media. We posted #DalitLivesMatter on social media, and we complained of how our society is still casteist and racist. Then we forgot all about the lives lost, the grieving families, and the hurting survivors. While justice is yet to be served, the survivors of this horrific massacre reel under financial burden and live in constant fear.

“We know there is an ongoing investigation, but we also fear evidences might be tampered with or the investigation might be relaxed if we are not vigilant,” says Pradip Pariyar, executive chairperson at Samata Foundation Nepal, who also identifies as a Dalit Lives Matter activist. “Our team of lawyers and rights activists has visited the incident site and made our own observations. We conclude that this is a premeditated murder fueled by racial discrimination.” There are also other reports that speak of evidence tampering and gross negligence on the part of the police and local authorities.

Keep up the pressure

While Pariyar asks for a fair trial and corresponding punishment to the perpetrators, he stresses that Nepal’s legal system is slow, and the “bureaucracy running the show lacks empathy.” In this situation, politically influential sources could favor the perpetrators and influence the decisions of the legal bodies should the trials extend for long.

As it is, ruling party leaders, including Janardan Sharma and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, have said that “BK and his friends died when they tried to flee,” without waiting for investigation reports. Dalit rights activists are not satisfied with how the ruling party, supposedly a party of marginalized communities, failed to address this incident in the parliament.

Pariyar urges the supporters of Dalit Lives Matter to keep up the pressure on the government and the judicial system. “We should make this a representational incident that shows that caste-based discrimination still exists in our society and press forward against all kinds of discriminations,” Pariyar adds.

Says entrepreneur and social media activist Shree Gurung, “While we continue to show our displeasure against this incident on social media, we should also start talking about racism and casteism in our own families. Gurung, who is facilitating a support group to help the cause of Dalit Lives Matter in coordination with Samata Foundation Nepal and other Nepali individuals living in Nepal and abroad, adds: “Be it your parents or elders or relatives or seniors, if they discriminate against other people, call them out.”

The group, which has both Gurung and Pariyar, has decided on a plan on continued advocacy against racial discrimination. Along with collecting and facilitating relief for victims and their families, the group will continue to disseminate information on the case, create platforms for discourse among the young generation, produce multimedia including music, videos and documentaries for awareness, and archive important information for further use.

‘Fake news’ abound

Bhim Bahadur Singh, a Kantipur journalist and activist based in Khalanga, Jajarkot, also stresses the importance of collecting and disseminating correct information. Singh has been a major source of information and relief distribution facilitator for this scribe. On their first conversation on June 8, Singh pointed out how local media as well as influential people had diverted the flow of information to suit the perpetrators’ narratives. ‘Fake news’ and rumors had spread across the region and then the whole country, dividing people’s opinions on the matter.

“The police have taken 34 people into custody and charged them with homicide, attempted homicide and caste-based discrimination and untouchability,” Singh informs over the phone from Jajarkot. “As of June 17, nine of them have already been interrogated.” Singh speaks about the ongoing protests by family members against the victims’ autopsy reports that show drowning as the cause of deaths. Family members are accusing foul play and tampering of evidence. “The protests had taken a violent turn yesterday when the police charged at the families and supporters with batons. Even I got hurt in the scuffle,” Singh adds. “The protests are to be peaceful today.”

As the Covid-19 pandemic creates new problems every single day, the issue of racism might not get the priority it deserves. But as most activists say, identifying and addressing these issues at home might be a good start.