The British Gurkha Satyagraha United Struggle Committee started a relay hunger strike before the office of the UK Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street from 1pm on Wednesday after their efforts to challenge the inequality between Gurkha’s pensions and those of former British soldiers who were born in the United Kingdom.
All Gurkha British soldiers who retired before 1997 are being denied an HM’s Armed Forces Pension, one former Gurkha veteran, Dhan Gurung: “207 years of historical discrimination, we try to raise our voices over 30 years, no ones listening.”
Gurkha veterans have been protesting putting forth different demands including an equal pension on a par with their British counterparts.
Earlier on June 16, a protest rally was staged in London to pressure the British government to address demands.
Campaigner Gyan Raj Rai shared that they were forced to stage a hunger strike when their demands were not heeded despite several attempts from their end.
Rai further informed that the relay hunger strike would continue for 13 consecutive days since Wednesday. The hunger strike will be undertaken on a rotation basis with one campaigner in the strike each day, he further clarified.
He added. “Gurkha veterans are not fighting for something we did not earn or deserve. We just want what we are denied by the British government.”
Earlier, the British Ministry of Defense had said that the Nepal government can communicate with the British government to address the grievances of Gurkha veterans.
The British Ambassador in Nepal is in contact with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on a regular basis and should the Nepal government wish to communicate on the matter of Gurkha veteran grievances, they may do so, the Ministry had said in a formal response to a joint letter sent by six Gurkha organizations.
Opinion:
Once again the government show how out of touch they are with reality and bring nothing but shame to the British people and Gurkhas alike.
The sheer notion that loyal men who served this country bravely are not being given a full British military pension disturbs me and many around the United Kingdom deeply.
The British Army’s website reads: “Throughout the 19th and early 20th Centuries the Gurkha Brigade, eventually consisting of ten regiments, each of two battalions, fought in India’s near abroad. They fought in both Sikh Wars of 1845-46 and 1848-49, in the three Burma Wars of 1824-26, 1852 and 1885 and in all three Afghan wars of 1839-42, 1878-81 and 1919, as well as playing their part in the garrisoning of the frontiers.”
The history of Gurkha’s fighting alongside the British is entrenched in history, after the Anglo – Nepali War from 1814 to 1816, a war in that both sides behaved honourably, controlling looting and respecting non-combatants, from this a mutual respect was developed and when the war ended with the Treaty of Segauli in 1816 both sides decided that they would be better as allies rather than enemies. From that point, Gurkha regiments began to be raised as part of the East India Company’s army.
Men who loyally stood by the United Kingdom, fighting for our freedoms and safety should not have the United Kingdom turn their back on them.
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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