Nepal Sirmooree 2025

2 Having been ravaged by floods again this year the country had hardly recovered when there was political turmoil again and Mr K P Sharma Oli, Chairman of the Nepal Communist Party (UML), became Prime Minister for the fourth time. He succeeded Mr Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), Chairman Maoist Centre, who lost the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives on 12 July 2024. Just for interest, in the years since 1990 after the introduction of the so called democracy the country had 32 governments mostly with prime ministers from the same three political parties. Nepali Congress (NC) headed 9 govts (Girija Koirala 4 and Sher Bahadur Deuba 5), Communist Party of Nepal (UML) K P Oli headed 4 govts while Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Prachanda headed 3 govts. Not sure if they are already in Guinness Book of Records. The ongoing G2G talk between the two governments to address the veterans’ grievances is progressing very slowly due to frequent changes of governments, especially in Nepal. Most probably the talk will resume in April 2025. The BGN’s GVAC has moved to a purposed-built office in Butwal and is fully operational now. The new Col Comdt Brigade of Gurkhas is Maj Gen Gerald Strickland DSO MBE and Deputy Col Comdt is Maj Gen Mark Lancaster. Col Dan Rex MVO Late 10 GR is now Comd British Gurkhas Nepal vice Col Paul Smith QOGLR. The Remembrance Day in 2024 was held at the British Embassy Kathmandu for the whole veteran Community on 10 November. The Gurkha Resettlement Office (GSO) in BGN continues to assist our veterans and their families. In the 6 months since April 2024 a total of 1713 veterans visited the GSO for advice and the office helped them with 237 Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE), 46 Returning Resident (RR) and 116 National Insurance applications. They also helped with replacement of some BRPs and eVisas. Our grateful thanks to the EO, Ms Anju Gurung, and her staff. For the SCN it was not a busy year except for planning for the closure of the 2 GR Trust and, with it, its three components, Sirmoor Club UK (SC UK, British Officers), Sirmoor Sathies UK (SS UK, all Gurkhas in the UK) and Sirmoor Club Nepal (SCN, all Gurkhas in Nepal, India, Brunei and Hong Kong). The 2 GR Trust was to have closed on 30th June 2024 but both SS UK and SCN had decided to finally close after observing the Regimental Day, the Delhi Day, on 14th September. This was the occasion when The Queen’s Truncheon (QT) was scheduled to be handed over to 2 Royal Gurkha Rifles at Sir John Moore Barracks, Folkestone, Kent. Of the two important Regimental Days, the Tigris/Tamandu day was observed at Gurkha Memorial Museum Pokhara (GMMP) on 4th March whereas the 167th Delhi Day was observed in most branches in Nepal and in Darjeeling, India, on 14th September. In 1974 Sirmooris in Dehradun (Uttarakhanda) and Baklo (Himanchal Pradesh), India, also observed on the same day. They were very excited as this was to be their first Regimental Day after a gap of over 15 years and also the last one to be observed by them as their number was fast dwindling. Sirmoori veterans in Nepal will continue to celebrate the Tigris/Tamandu Day symbolically at the GMMP every year but the Delhi Day will continue to be celebrated in all locations in Nepal and India as long as there is a significant CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE