The Ex-Soldiers' Welfare Association, the banner under which former personnel of the Special Frontier Force (SFF) have assembled, is asking New Delhi to pay them pension, like Nepalese Gurkhas recruited in the Indian Army or other Nepalese on the payroll of the Indian government. 

But Indian Army officials based here say the men, now in their 50s and 60s, were not part of the regular army and are not eligible for pension.

The Indian embassy here said the men were told at the time of recruitment they would not be paid pension and instead were given a lump sum when they were discharged.

The association, on the other hand, says they had always been told they would receive pension after completing service. 

Ram Bahadur Karki, the president of the association who joined SFF at 18 and served for over 20 years, said: "Our pay and perks were on par with Indian Army soldiers.

"Whenever we raised the pension issue, we were told we would get it after retirement. Twenty years later, I am still waiting for my pension."

The SFF was raised in November 1962 and initially comprised mainly Tibetan refugees. The intelligence agencies of the US and India played a key role in training and equipping the shadowy force, whose existence was not officially acknowledged for many years.

The force was trained for airborne missions, including parachuting behind enemy lines. Some personnel were used for limited cross-border reconnaissance missions and secret operations to spy on Chinese nuclear and missile tests.

The SFF currently has two battalions of Nepalese soldiers, apart from its other troopers. Karki estimates there are about 1,200 troopers in each battalion. 

Most of the protesters were recruited in 1965, and Karki estimates about 4,000 would be entitled to pension if New Delhi heeded their plea. 

The men also took part in the India-Pakistan war of 1971, operating in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of present day Bangladesh; were part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka and joined missions like Operation Bluestar against extremists in Punjab.

But unlike Indian Army personnel, they say their families receive no compensation when they are killed in the line of duty. 

Most of them had no education when they joined SFF, which they say, coupled with their youth and inexperience, made them unable to grasp their difference from Indian Army personnel.

To add to their woes, the SFF being a covert organisation, the Indian government has given them virtually no official document to show they were employed as troopers.

All they have is a discharge certificate without any seal or even the name of the person signing it. Neither does it give their designations. It simply mentions that the Indian government had employed them. 

When the Gurkhas employed by the British Army or Indian Army retire, they are immediately snapped up by security firms.

But Karki says former SFF men find no takers since they have no documents. They approached former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and recently, the Indian embassy here.

Receiving no response from either, they launched a relay hunger strike in the heart of the city.

"We risked our lives," said 68-year-old Khadka Bahadur Gharti, who came from the remote district of Myagdi, braving the freezing cold, to take part in the protest.

"We were young, uneducated and starving when we joined. They gave us uniforms, rifles and food and we thought we were in heaven. Who would have thought we would have to start a fight again in our old age?"

--Indo-Asian News Service