India ready to stop Gorkha recruitment, if Nepal wants

New Delhi, May 21: The Special Envoy of the Prime Minister and former Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Shyam Saran, has said that India is ready to stop Gorkha recruitment if the Nepal Government wants it to.

Speaking at a talk programme organised at Indian International Center here, Saran also made it clear that India would suffer no "practical impact" by discontinuing the recruitment of Nepali nationalists in Gorkha regiments. Saran, however, added that the recruitment has been continued with because of the "special relations" enjoyed by India and Nepal.

Stopping the recruitment of all Nepali nationalists in Gorkha regiments in India and U.K features at the top of the priority list of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) party which has emerged as the biggest party after the Constituent Assembly (CA) election.

Some 40,000 Nepalese are currently serving in the Indian Gorkha regiments.

ANI