As the United Kingdom prepares for a change in government next week, Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal on Tuesday held a telephone conversation with Britain’s Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis, urging London to resolve the longstanding grievances of Gurkha veterans over unequal pay and pensions.

The conversation came as former Gurkha soldiers warned of staging a “fast unto death” in Kathmandu if their demands remain unaddressed.

The two sides also discussed preparations for another round of tripartite talks involving representatives of the governments of Nepal and the United Kingdom and Gurkha veterans, expected by July 21. The previous round, held in London on March 18, ended without a breakthrough.

“I told the British defence secretary that we want to see this longstanding issue resolved at the earliest possible time,” Khanal told the Post.

“We feel responsible to deliver results. Resolving the Gurkha issue would allow Nepal-UK relations to move forward and help lay the foundation for the next 200 years of our relationship. I also shared that Nepal’s Supreme Court has directed the government to work towards resolving the issue.”

The telephone conversation was coordinated and facilitated by the British Embassy in Kathmandu.

Jarvis, who assumed office on June 12, said the British government remained committed to resolving the matter. Acknowledging the possibility of a change in government next week, he said he would personally try to move the issue forward. Jarvis also recalled his longstanding association with Nepal, having first visited the country in 1991.

Former Gurkha soldiers, who are represented in the tripartite negotiations, say the British government discriminated against those who served in the British Army between 1948 and 1993 by placing them under a separate legal framework that denied them equal pay and pensions.

“Those who served during that period should receive the same pay and pension as British soldiers,” Krishna Bahadur Rai, a member of the Gurkha veterans’ negotiating team, told the Post from London.

At the March talks, the veterans presented an 11-point demand, but the British side reiterated that it could not offer equal pensions to pre-1993 Gurkhas, proposing additional benefits instead under a welfare scheme.

“We have clear objections to that. Equal pay and pensions are entirely different from welfare benefits,” Rai said.

On January 16 earlier this year, Rai, who is also coordinator of the British Gurkha Satyagraha United Struggle Committee, wrote to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, asking his government to meet the veterans’ demands by the end of March. The letter reiterated an 11-point charter of demands, including equal pensions with British soldiers and implementation of the 1947 Tripartite Agreement.

Ahead of the March negotiations, 19 members of the British Parliament jointly wrote to the UK government, urging it to address the Gurkha veterans’ demands.

According to Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khanal stressed the historical importance of the Gurkhas in Nepal-UK relations and called for a mutually acceptable settlement of their longstanding grievances.

“He requested the British government to address the demands of British Gurkhas from the perspective of compassion and the sacrifices made by the Gurkhas. Minister Khanal also expressed Nepal’s readiness to play a constructive role in resolving the issue through collaboration,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Jarvis described the Gurkhas as an integral part of the British Army and reiterated that resolving the issue remained a priority for the UK government.