Philippine president considers hiring Nepali Soldiers for maintaining peace in Philippines
President Rodrigo R. Duterte is mulling on taking in professional soldiers known as “mercenaries” to help crush the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the group that claimed responsibility for the explosion at the night market along Roxas Ave. in Davao City Friday night. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said this was expressed by the President during a meeting with national security officials and the Cabinet members at the Enclaves in Matina that went until 4 a.m. Sunday.
Wikipedia defines mercenary as a person who take part in an armed conflict but is not a national or party to the conflict and is “motivated to take part in the hostilities by the desire for private gain.” A mercenary fights for personal gains of money or other recompense instead of fighting for the ideological interests of a country, whether they be for or against the existing government.
Piñol said the President believed that the ASG and other extremist groups are products of historical injustices but their actions like kidnapping and beheadings made it imperative for government to deal with the problem by force.
“You started this. I wanted to talk to you but you leave me with no choice. There’s no other option. These people are like germs which must be eliminated,” Piñol said quoting the President.
Piñol said the explosion last Friday served as the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
In the same meeting, President Duterte also called on the nation to prepare for reprisals from the terror group.
“I am calling on the nation to prepare for reprisals. There will be sacrifices to be made but we have to address this problem once and for all,” the President said.
Gorkha Community files
petition against Flipkart's 'racist' ad
E-commerce website
Flipkart’s latest advertisement featuring
children as Gorkhas has drawn criticism from the Gorkha community,
who reportedly called it “simply racist”.
“Their advertisement
makes a mockery of the Gorkha community, and stereotypes us as being chowkidars,
with overly-exaggerated and highly offensive Hindi accent,” the complaint read.
On Tuesday, Flipkart
reworked a group of ads but the petitioners said that they won’t stop till the
“racist” promotion campaign gets withdrawn, according to The Telegraph.
Members of the community
have also filed a petition against the company and co-founders Sachin Bansal
and Binny Bansal in a Delhi court. It has been filed under Section 154 (A) and
(B) for criminally conspiring with each other for defamation and hurting the
religious sentiment of the Nepali/Gorkhali community, The Business Standard reported.
The petitioners allege
that they were compelled to take this step after the company failed to respond
to their pleas. The petition has also accused Mullen Lintas, the creative
agency behind Flipkart ad, and Virat Tandon, chief executive at Mullen Lintas,
the report further added.
Flipkart uploaded the ad
on 19 August but the video has been taken down from YouTube. Binny Bansal’s
tweet about the ad remains unavailable as well.
Rajan Chhetri, one of
the petitioners, said that Flipkart has been very “cold” towards the
community’s requests. However, the online retailer responded for the first
time on Monday with "a note to our Gorkha brothers and sisters".
It acknowledged that
"We (Flipkart) may have unintentionally hurt" sentiments
"through the depiction of one of the characters in the advertisement,
namely the security guard".
Ex-British Gurkhas urge PM to solve their problems
Former British Gurkhas
have demanded that the government organise talks with the United Kingdom
government to solve their problems.
According to them, they
have been facing problems of inequality and discrimination from the UK
government.
Meeting Prime Minister
Pushpa Kamal Dahal at his official residence in the Capital on Saturday, former
members of the British Army drew attention of PM Dahal to carry out
negotiations with the UK government and solve their problems.
“Nepalis are getting
less salary than other British army personnel, though being at the equal level.
There are many instances of discrimination and inequalities,” said Krishna
Bahadur Rai, a former Gurkha.
He added that even a
report on the status of former Gurkhas of the House of Commons, the lower house
of British Parliament, has not been implemented.
“In such condition, the
Nepal government itself should take initiatives to secure rights of Gurkhas
recruited through the trilateral talks between the Nepal government, the UK
government and the Gurkha Army” he further added.
The delegation said that
they had carried out talks with the UK government, but to no avail.
During the meeting, PM
Dahal assured the delegation to take initiatives from his side.
Sources: The Manila Times, The Himalayan Times
Sources: The Manila Times, The Himalayan Times
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