Will recruitment of mercenaries in Nepal stop?

This video from the USA in 2006 is called Cleveland, OH: Demonstration for democracy & peace in Nepal.

From The Guardian:

Former Maoist guerrillas on brink of historic Nepal election victory

Rebels upstage political rivals as royal dynasty ends

We are committed to democracy, says leader

Randeep Ramesh, South Asia correspondent

Monday April 14 2008

Former communist rebels in Nepal appear to be on the brink of a historic sweep in elections that will decide the political future of the Himalayan nation and end the rule of its 239-year-old royal dynasty.

The Maoists’ party has won 42 seats and is leading in 58 constituencies, the election commission said in a statement on its website. The traditional politicians, who had expected to win the polls, have been reduced to bit-part players. …

However, experts say a decisive win for the Maoists would be potentially destabilising for the region. In their manifesto, they called for scrapping all major treaties, especially those with New Delhi, and stopping the recruitment of Nepali Gurkhas in British and Indian armies. The US still lists the Maoists as a “terrorist” group.

Of course, one certainly does not have to be any sort of Maoist, let alone a “terrorist”, to oppose the recruitment of Gurkhas as cannon fodder mercenaries for foreign armies. By the way, British imperialism treats Gurkha veterans badly, and they are protesting about that.

Gurkha, 87, who won the VC returns war medals to Downing Street after being refused free hospital care: here.

Gurkha campaigners condemned a defence minister’s call for Nepalese veterans settling in Britain to be “dispersed” around the country like asylum-seekers today: here.

President Bush’s National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos and repeatedly confused Nepal and Tibet: here.