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POVERTY SCANDAL OF OUR GURKHAS - SHAMEFUL WAY TO TREAT HEROES

Gurkhas gather outside parliament yesterday to return their medals

Thursday March 20,2008

By Martyn Brown

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(31)

HUNDREDS of former Gurkha soldiers who fought for Britain are living in poverty on less than £30 a week, the Daily Express reveals today.

The brave warriors, all of whom loyally served the British Army for at least 15 years, are still being refused permission to work, use the NHS or claim benefits as they battle for the right to British citizenship.

And while the Government refuses to acknowledge their claims, the ex-soldiers and their families struggle to survive and are forced to rely on friends to feed and house them.

Sickened by their shameful treatment, 4,000 Gurkhas marched on Downing Street yesterday to demand better rights.

And in a gesture that severely embarrassed the Government, 50 of the heroes handed back their war medals, claiming they were no longer proud to wear them.

It is very sad and emotional but it is the only thing we can do

Damber Ghaly

Damber Ghaly, who organised the protest for the Gurkhas United Front, returned his six medals, including his MBE.

The 50-year-old hero, who served in the Gurkhas for 28 years, said: “It is very sad and emotional but it is the only thing we can do.

“I served in Kosovo and Bosnia, where I was in charge of my troops. It is not a case of being angry but we feel very disappointed and let down.”

MPs yesterday added their support to the growing crusade – launched by the Daily Express – to support retired Gurkhas.

Tory MP Patrick Mercer said: “These guys lay down their lives for this country. Surely they deserve better treatment than illegal immigrants who come to Britain and don’t lift a finger.

“It is shocking they are not entitled to any benefits or NHS treatment or even work here. They are renowned for their loyalty and hard work yet they are not even allowed to do that.

“These soldiers deserve just as much as the rest of the Army.”

Ann Widdecombe, the Tory MP and Daily Express columnist, said: “I have been campaigning on this for years and years and the Government does nothing

“Unless there is a mass public outcry the shameful treatment of Gurkhas will continue.”

The scandal centres on the year that Gurkhas retire from the Army following their compulsory 15 years of service.

Last year the Daily Express successfully led a crusade forc-ing the Government to allow Gurkhas to join the armed forces’ pension scheme.

As well as giving them the same pension as British soldiers, they also won the automatic right to remain in the UK.

But the policy is only open to those who retire after July 1997, when the Brigade of Gurkhas transferred to Britain from its former base in Hong Kong.

It means the 22,000 ex-soldiers who retired before 1997 still have to apply for the right to remain in Britain, while their pensions remain between £100 and £130 a month – about a quarter of what a British soldier gets.

Among the protesters on yesterday’s march was Ash Bahadur Gurung, 57, who served in the 6th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles for 16 years.

He has been waiting for two years to hear whether his application to remain in Britain has been accepted, a procedure the Home Office says should take just 90 days.

Living with his wife Yaumayn and their 12-year-old daughter in a small, rented house in Reading, paid for out of the basic salary of his son who is in the British Army, he struggles on a weekly Gurkha pension of just £25.67.

He said: “At the moment the problem is getting my daughter to school, which costs £2 a day on the bus. It’s a lot of money for us but we can’t get a bus card.”

His 46-year-old wife is not entitled to use the NHS, which means they had to buy a pair of crutches and wheelchair from the Red Cross after one of her legs was amputated due to cancer.

Protester Dewan Gurung, 46, who served in the Army for 23 years, including tours in Bosnia, Sierra Leone and the Falklands, said: “Our pension is not even enough for life in Nepal. In Britain, it is incredibly low.”

GUF secretary Lal Prasad Gurung, who served in the Falklands, Hong Kong, Brunei, Kosovo and Bosnia for more than 20 years, said he was deeply disappointed by their treatment. “In 2004 I was given the right to remain here but many of my colleagues who retired before 1997 do not have the right even to enter the country,” he said.

“We are the same as the British Army but we are disparaged in so many ways.”

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg told MPs yesterday that ministers had made a “spectacular misjudgment”. During a clash at Prime Minister’s questions yesterday, Mr Clegg demanded all Gurkhas be given equal pay and pension rights as well as the right to live in the UK.

Gordon Brown replied that the Gurkhas did a “tremendous job” for Britain and that the UK Government was the first to extend equal pay and pension rights to those serving since 1997.

But he refused to make any changes to the terms and conditions of their rights.

Veterans Minister Derek Twigg defended the Ministry of Defence’s position. He said: “The terms and conditions of service for serving Gurkhas and pensions paid to ex-Gurkhas are fair and recognise the changes to the Brigade of Gurkhas since 1997.”

Nepalese Gurkhas have served in the British Army for almost 200 years and were entrusted to look after Prince Harry when he served in Afghanistan this year.

More than 45,000 Gurkhas have died and 150,000 wounded fighting for Britain and they have won 13 Victoria Crosses.

NEW LABOUR IS NOT INTERESTED IN HEROES

01.04.08, 11:58pm

ANYTHING that smacks of Britishness... Loyalty, Service to Country, Service to The Queen, National flags, The Proms.. and especially "The Ghurkas"--a group of men that evoke such powerful feelings from the "True British" etc etc.. is loathed by, and is to be stamped out by New Labour, according to their Marxist doctrine. The entire ethic of post Cold War globalisation, indeed, is profoundly anti-national. The multinational corporation, like Marx’s worker, “has no country”: the modern international corporate executive is more at home in an airport departure lounge or a Hilton hotel than in a village pub. The last thing you want when trying to dismantle Queen and Country, are a bunch of fearsome Ghurka warriors stalking their traitorous leaders..

The BNP would guarantee that the Gurkhas and their families would be given leave to remain in Britain.

Real Racism in action thanks to New Labour:

http://www.bnp.org.uk/2008/02/29/real-rascism-in-action/

• Posted by: NoisySiamese • Report Comment

SHAMEFUL WAY TO TREAT HEROES

21.03.08, 4:28pm

Come the next election , come the next election. Let us hope that the people of Britain remember all this and vote accordingly for a decent outcome for both the Gurkhas and the Country.

• Posted by: EmperorMing • Report Comment

GURKHAS

20.03.08, 7:42pm

I see the "blame Nu Labour" mob are in full voice again. Did you not read that the rules were changed in 1997 so that Gurkhas did get better pensions and the problem dates back to before then, when the Conservatives were in power? Still, nthing like not letting the facts get in the way of your prejudices!

• Posted by: masterbrew • Report Comment

GURKHAS

20.03.08, 5:15pm

We should welcome these heroes with open arms. If ever Gordon Brown had to go to war I bet you wouldn't see his a**e for dust. What a pathetic prime minister and government we have

• Posted by: kennyoldgit • Report Comment

I NEVER BELIEVED IN THE LOCH NESS MONSTER

20.03.08, 4:37pm

But here you are as disgusted with this government as the rest of us.

I will give you a wave next time I visit Scotland !

• Posted by: abuela • Report Comment

GURKHA POVERTY

20.03.08, 3:20pm

We recruit from other countries, such as Fiji, into our Armed forces and those that retire from service are allowed to remain in Britain with access to welfare, benefits, education and NHS. So what is different with those that are recruited from Nepal? Why is the government discriminating against the Gurkhas? This shameful excuse of a government should grant the right, on behalf of the British people, of British citizenship on completion of service and the same pay and conditions of service with full pension rights. The Gurkhas that retired before 1997 should receive the same pension other British servicemen who retired the same time as they did.
I have had the previlege of serving with 48 Gurkha Brigade during my service and feel ashamed that those that I once served with are having to live on less than £30 per week and barred from using our welfare system and NHS.
This government allows illegal immigrants, Asylum seekers, Foreign criminals, terrorists and other immigrants virtually free access to welfare benefits, housing and Healthcare.
I will support the Gurkhas in any way I can. I hope they win their claim.

• Posted by: Jacko • Report Comment