Here are two more articles from The Telegraph about the dead Gurkhas. The first one quotes an accusation that the use of the Gurkhas in Kosovo violates the treaty under which they are recruited, although given the fact that nothing in the NATO treaty provides for NATO being used to conquer various parts of the former Yugoslavia I wouldn't expect the UK government to be too worried about such charges. K. Mickey
ISSUE 1489Wednesday 23 June 1999
Sergeant was at end of 15-year Gurkha career By Michael Smith and Kedar Man Singh in Kathmandu
BALA RAM RAI, the Gurkha sergeant killed in Kosovo, was just six months away from the end of his 15-year service with the brigade he had joined after walking for six days from his remote home in eastern Nepal to enlist. He was 35 and leaves a wife and two children, aged six and four, in Nepal.
The Gurkha Ex-Servicemen's Organisation, based in Kathmandu, said his body was expected to be flown home this week to be cremated according to Hindu custom on the banks of the holy river Aryaghat in Kathmandu. A mile-long escort of ex-Gurkha soldiers will march behind the cortege.
Sgt Rai's family live in his home town of Bhojpur, where the Gurkhas' famous kukri blades are produced. After his six-day march to the Gurkha brigade's Dharan base to enlist in January 1985, he was sent to the brigade's depot in Church Crookham, Hants, to undergo basic infantry training.
Sgt Rai then transferred to the Queen's Gurkha Engineers, based at Maidstone, Kent, and qualified as a combat engineer class one. He served in the Falklands, Bosnia and Hong Kong.
Gurkha Major Damar Ghale said: "It is very tragic news for everyone among the Gurkhas. He had just returned from long leave with his family in Nepal before he was posted to Kosovo two weeks ago. His career was outstanding. He was one of the high-fliers."
The Gurkha Ex-Servicemen's Organisation attacked the British Government for misusing the Gurkha soldiers and for discriminating against them in terms of pay and pensions. Krishna Kumar Rai, the organisation's vice-president, said: "The use of Gurkhas in internal conflicts outside British soil contravenes the 1947 British-Nepal treaty on recruitment. Gurkha soldiers are treated like British soldiers, but when it comes to the question of pension, gratuity and salary on a par with those of the British soldiers, they are discriminated against."
Because the Ministry of Defence takes into account the different standards of living in Nepal, the payment his widow receives will be a mere 7.5 per cent of what the widow of an equivalent British soldier would receive. She will be given an immediate lump sum of £19,092 and a pension of £939.24 a year for the first five years, after which it will drop to £771.48 a year.
The MoD defended itself against the accusation of discrimination by saying: "In relative terms, his family are going to be wealthy people, which is not to suggest that any payment could compensate them for his loss."
The Gurkhas have served alongside British soldiers since the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814-16, when the British East India Company's troops failed to conquer Nepal. It was not until two years ago, after a series of protests, that the Gurkhas' salaries were reviewed to ensure that they received similar pay to their British equivalents.
Gurkha pay is worked out on a complex formula dating back to a 1947 agreement between Britain, India and Nepal, which ruled that basic pay for British Gurkhas should be the same as those serving with the Indian Army. The pay of the British Army's Gurkhas had traditionally been raised by a series of allowances but they still did not give Gurkha soldiers the same rates of pay as their British equivalents.
The review abolished all allowances and replaced them with a grant that raised Gurkha take-home pay to a rate broadly equivalent of that of their British counterparts. However, as a result of the 1947 agreement, pensions continue to be calculated on the basis of the same rates of pay as those paid to Gurkhas in the Indian Army.
Despite the pensions issue, the British Army attracts young Nepalese, who would largely otherwise be limited to seasonal farm work.
ISSUE 1489Wednesday 23 June 1999
Life in Army was boyhood dream for British victim By Michael Fleet
AS a boy, Gareth Evans, the Gurkha officer killed in Monday's explosion in Kosovo, loved nothing more than to dress in combat gear, take to the woods and imagine himself as an Army officer. The son of a deputy headmaster, he achieved his aim and, as Lt Evans, was an ambitious, dedicated and inspirational officer who had joined his Gurkha squadron within the Royal Engineers after training at Sandhurst.
The 6ft 4in 24-year-old, one of only a few British Army officers serving with the Gurkhas, won the loyalty of men in the squadron, learning Nepalese and travelling to Nepal to improve his language skills. Even as a child he had stood out among his friends as a natural leader, issuing instructions as the group crawled through undergrowth in games of hide and seek.
Angela Searle, 23, a childhood friend and neighbour in Bristol, where Lt Evans was brought up after his family moved from Wales, said: "He was always the one who organised the big games. He would be dressed in camouflage clothes, with mud smeared on his face. He never had any doubt about what he wanted to be.
"He always played it like a military operation, sneaking through the bushes like he was sniper or something. It was like a big adventure he would have in the Army. He always wanted to be in the Services from as far back as I can remember."
At the Downs School at Wraxall, near Bristol, Gareth Evans was a popular and energetic pupil. His father, John, was maths teacher and the rugby coach. He is now a deputy head teacher.
James Macpherson, the headmaster, said: "Gareth was a bright, intelligent boy with a lively sense of humour who was popular with pupils and staff. He was a very confident and extrovert boy and a great sportsman. He was a bit of an action man, always wanting to do something. Academically he was above average but he always wanted to be out and about. That is where his heart was.
"He excelled on the sports field and played on occasions for the first rugby XV. He went out of his way to help other people and it is ironic that he should have died while clearing a school so that children could return there. The school held a special service this morning in which we remembered Gareth and his parents, John and Joyce."
After leaving the Downs School at 13, he went to Monmouth School for Boys, where he obtained three A-levels. He decided on a career in the Royal Engineers and while still at Monmouth took part in work experience with the regiment.
After school he joined Exeter University and pursued his path towards an Army career with vigour, said Prof David Owens, head of the university's school of engineering and computer science. "Gareth was a good student who graduated with an honours degree in engineering. He was interested in a career in the Army even before he started his degree."
In 1997 he joined the Army and after basic training at Sandhurst was posted to 69th Gurkha Field Squadron, part of the 36th Engineers Regiment at Maidstone, Kent. He was appointed as squadron troop commander and sent on exercise to Brunei and Canada before being deployed to Kosovo two weeks ago.
Major Andy Edington, of the 36th Engineers Regiment, said: "He was a fine officer who will be greatly missed by colleagues and friends. He maintained his interest in rugby and won the affection of troops by organising a team for a rugby sevens championship.
"He was an extraordinarily good sportsman, playing rugby for the Royal Engineers and recently teaching a group of Gurkhas for a Rugby sevens tournament. He did not know yet where he was going to take his considerable talents, but it is a great loss to the military."