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The question now is: has the campaign for Gurkha rights come to an end? The answer: no, not until equal pensions and settlement rights for their dependent children who are over eighteen have been resolved. How many will come? Far fewer than the grossly exaggerated number presented by the Ministry of Defence. Probably no more than 5,000 including spouses and minor dependent children. How much will it cost the government to bring them in? Nil. Instead the government will be richer by several million pounds from visa fees.
Will they be better off here? The majority of ex-Gurkhas are employed as security guards doing a 12-hour shift, and their salaries are just enough for house rent (plus council tax) and the upkeep of their family. Unless every able member of the family works, it’s hard to save money or pay off mortgage for a house. But the Gurkhas have always been optimists.
The majority of former Gurkhas in Nepal are living well off with their annually increased pensions and other incomes from farming, investments in business ventures, and from self-employment. Some are employed in Hong Kong, Brunei, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Most have left the hills and now live in major cities such as Dharan, Damak, Ilam, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Damauli, Bhairahawa, Butwal, etc. They are now more involved in community development, local & national politics, and social work, too. Their children go to private boarding schools and colleges.
The older Gurkha veterans may not come to settle in the UK to end up in some miserable care homes. Instead they want equal pensions and want their dependent children who are over eighteen to have the right to settle in the UK. The younger generation has a greater future and more opportunities to improve their lives through higher education and, eventually, better jobs. The British Army can also recruit these Gurkha lads here in the UK instead of wasting millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money in Nepal.
The Gurkhas have been the most generous of the generous for nearly 200 years. Silently they have mourned and shed tears. Uncomplaining, they have endured their sorrows and pain, their heads held high with dignity and pride, knowing that their brave sons died for a just cause and not in vain. The Gurkha mothers have given up thousands of their sons for the Crown and country. The Gurkha soldiers have pledged more allegiance to the Queen than to their (former) King, have shown more patriotism for Britain than for their own country, and have given more lives for Britain than for their own country.
So why can’t the British government, for once, be more generous than the most generous of the generous by giving all ex-Gurkhas, regardless of when they served, a fair pension equal to their fellow British soldiers, and granting their children the right to settle in the UK? That would complete the epitaph written by Professor Sir Ralph Turner, MC, and his soul would rest in peace.
Ayo Gorkhali!
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L.B.Tapmaden
Mr.L.B.Tapmaden is an ex-Gurkha who is now living in the UK and is interested in writing about Gurkha issues.He has an MBA degree and runs his own business in his own country Nepal.He is also a PhD candidate in Business Administration.
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