Guwahati: Nepal has requested the Indian Army to delay hiring Nepalis, which was set to start on Thursday, until additional information regarding the Agnipath tour-of-duty programme is available.
Nepal’s Narayan Khadka called Indian Ambassador Naveen Srivastava to the ministry and requested that he delay plans to enrol young Nepalis into the Army’s Gorkha regiment under the Aagnipath programme on Wednesday.
There were huge demonstrations across the nation following the unveiling of the Agnipath, India’s military recruitment programme. However,the military has emphasised that the plan cannot be rolled back.
In the western city of Butwal, starting yesterday, and in the eastern city of Dharan, commencing September 1, the Indian army intended to recruit Nepalis. The Indian ambassador was instructed by the Nepali foreign minister that “political parties in Nepal should have a common position about the Agnipath programme” and that recruitment of Nepali youngsters should cease until a consensus was established, according to the Nepali daily My Republica.
Following the scheme’s introduction on June 14, the Indian army wrote to Nepal’s foreign ministry via the Indian embassy in Kathmandu to request their consent for recruiting and security support, according to IANS. However, the Nepali administration had not informed the Indian side of their decision.
The nation’s foreign ministry requested India to postpone the recruitment of Nepali youth under the programme on Wednesday, one day before the planned push for Butwal.
The article also stated that defence experts in Nepal are concerned about the program’s social impact on Nepal.
A retired Nepal Army general was quoted by My Republica as saying, “The social impact on Nepali society must also be considered when young adults trained in warfare and weaponry are sent back to Nepal, rather than spending a full career in the Indian Gorkhas. There is even sociological evidence that such a situation is likely to raise the level of gun-violence and other types of violence in society, as Indian commentators have also suggested.”
It should be mentioned that the 1947 tripartite treaty allows Nepali nationals to be enlisted in the armed forces of India and the United Kingdom. According to Kathmandu Post, just about 1,300 Nepalis would have been hired this year through the Agnipath programme, a significant decrease from the previous year’s totals.
Reacting to it, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We have been recruiting Gorkha soldiers to the Indian Army for a long time. We look forward to continuing to recruit Gorkha soldiers to the Indian Army under the Agnipath scheme.”