Indian Military

KATHMANDU: The mighty People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Nepal's ruling Maoist party, that had waged a relentless war on the state for 10 years and been instrumental in the fall of King Gyanendra's army-backed regime in 2006, tasted a major defeat on Thursday with the parliamentary parties agreeing on giving it its marching orders – from the new constitution that is being drafted.
A committee of MPs formed to resolve disputes among the parties while writing the new constitution, that is headed by Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda himself, the man who was the supreme commander of the PLA when it fought the "People's War" from 1996, agreed on Thursday that the guerrilla army would have no mention in the preamble of the constitution.
For three years, the Maoists, once an underground party, had stuck to their demand that the PLA, whose battle paved the way for the new constitution, should get honourable mention in the new statute. But faced with intractable opposition, Prachanda gave in finally, especially with the other committee members pointing out that as per the peace accord signed by the Maoists, the PLA would be dissolved before the new statute comes into effect.

NEW DELHI: From just a couple of joint exercises annually a decade ago, Indian Army is really cranking up its engagement with foreign armies now. The 1.13-million force will undertake as many as 16 combat exercises with friendly forces in 2011-2012.
The flurry of exercises constitute an effective diplomatic tool to enhance overall strategic ties and military-to-military cooperation with countries in India's "immediate" and "strategic neighbourhood" as well as "priority nations'' far away.
From US, UK, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, the response has been "simply overwhelming", say Army officers.
"Other armies are very keen to exercise with us since we have six decades of combat experience across the entire spectrum of conflict. One of the main focus areas in the exercises has been counter-terrorism/counter-insurgency in rural, semi-urban and urban terrains," said a senior officer.

KATHMANDU: The Nepalese army today rejected allegations that link its personnel to the outbreak of cholera in Haiti saying "it is a totally baseless and hypothetical allegation".

"We express regret for such baseless allegations made against the army. There is no evidence to support it and we strongly condemn such allegation which has no substance," said Nepal army's spokesman Ramindra Chhetri.

Chhetri said the study, compiled by a French epidemiologist, contained no evidence that directly implicated Nepalese army personnel.

The results of the research carried out by French epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux have linked the infection to a UN base that houses Nepalese soldiers in central Haiti.

The United Nations, has faced violent protests in Haiti over its alleged role in an epidemic that has killed 2,000 people while 90,000 others have been affected.

However, many in Haiti blame the UN for the cholera outbreak, which came months after a devastating earthquake in January that killed a quarter of a million people and left 1.

LONDON: Retired Gurkha soldiers have lost their latest court battle with Britain's military over their army pensions.

The former soldiers from Nepal had challenged a High Court ruling earlier this year that rejected their bid to be paid the same pensions as military personnel from Britain.

The Court of Appeal upheld the lower court's decision on Wednesday.

The British Gurkha Welfare Society says about 25,000 Gurkhas who retired before 2007 are not eligible for pension payments equal to their U.K.-based counterparts.

They were paid about a third of the monthly pensions given to U.K. soldiers because they were recruited from Nepal and stationed in the Far East.

The Gurkhas said they are considering taking the case to European courts.

KATHMANDU: More than a year after Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda triggered a never-ending dispute about his guerrilla army, now a fresh row has started over the fighters with the government of Nepal training its guns on the UN in an unexpected development.

The government on Thursday took to task Karin Landgren, the chief of the UN agency that is monitoring the arms and combatants of the Nepal Army as well as the Maoists' People's Liberation Army, after remaining locked in a feud with her for several months over what it says is her partisan attitude towards the Maoists.

The government is objecting to a report tabled by Landgren before the UN Security Council in New York last week, in which she says her organisation and the Maoists have recently agreed to conduct a headcount of the guerrillas living in the 28 cantonments under the supervision of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN). In 2007, after the Maoists ended their 10-year "People's War" and agreed to confine their People's Liberation Army (PLA) in cantonments monitored by Landgren's UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), UNMIN also conducted a headcount of the fighters to weed out child soldiers and people recruited after the peace pact.