Gurkhas say they are denied access to 200 graves at PLA's San Tin barracks

Retired Gurkhas say they are being denied access to at least 200 soldiers' graves located within the People's Liberation Army barracks in San Tin.

The PLA says no such graves exist at either its San Tin or Tam Mei barracks.

Gurkha Cemeteries Trust Hong Kong chairman Narhang Rai says there are at least 200 graves of Nepali soldiers and their family members in the barracks, and that the Gurkha community has been prevented from visiting them.

"We've asked also if we could move the graves out of their controlled area and into our cemetery, but we were refused," said Rai, himself a retired Gurkha.

A PLA spokesman said: "According to our knowledge, there has been no discovery of Gurkha grave sites within San Tin or Tam Mei barracks."

There are 30,000 Nepalis living in Hong Kong, most of them related to Gurkhas who were stationed in the city by the British. After fighting the Gurkhas in Nepal from 1814 to 1816, the British began employing them as soldiers.

Many Gurkhas were stationed in the New Territories, at San Tin barracks, which was known as Cassino Lines before the handover in 1997.