Gurkhas accuse the Government of 'betrayal' over pensions

[SO19]

Gurkhas accuse the Government of 'betrayal' over pensions
By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 2:14PM BST 02/07/2008

A group of retired Gurkhas have accused the Government of "betrayal" after a High Court ruling denied them the same pension as British service personnel.

The men, who have a combined 57 years of service between them in Brunei, Iraq, Belize and Kuwait, claim they have been treated unlawfully and unfairly and have pledged to appeal the ruling.

Their test case affects thousands of Nepali Gurkhas who have settled in this country after years of loyal service fighting in the British Army around the world.

Last year, 2,000 marched on Whitehall and handed back their medals in protest at the unequal treatment they receive.

The men sought to challenge a decision made by the Ministry of Defence last year to upgrade the Nepalis' paltry military pensions to full Army pensions – but only for service after 1997 when the Gurkha headquarters moved from Hong Kong to the UK after the handover to China.

One of the men, Kamal Purja, 38, damaged his back during training and retired after 17 years in the Armed Forces as a rifleman.

He has been granted British citizenship but is unable to work and is forced by his pension to scratch out a meagre existence near Winchester, Hants.

He receives just over £4,650 a year compared to the £6,400 a British soldier in the same position would get, because his eight years of his service were before the 1997 cut-off point.

"I have to live on £96 a week but it is very hard," he said. "My brother is a Gurkha who is just back from Afghanistan and he looks after me. If he did not I would have to go to the street for begging."

He said that all of his ancestors had served in the Gurkhas and joining them had been the proudest moment of his life.

"I wanted to follow my father and serve the Queen but when the MoD only want you while you can work. When you cannot they spit in your face.

"I am not political. I come from a mountain village in Nepal. The MoD have betrayed us and I will fight this until I die because we deserve dignity."

But his case and that of two others, Kumar Shrestha and Sambahadur Gurung, who are also in their 30s and retired because of ill health, was thrown out by the judge who said the MoD award was "justified and proportionate".

Solicitor Philippa Tuckman, of law firm Bolt Burdon Kemp, appealed to the MoD to fulfil its "legal and moral obligation" without waiting for further court proceedings.

"This money is meant to be lived on, and in this country. Gurkhas have served in theatres of war, in danger and in hardship. They should be valued for it, not penalised," she said.

Gurkhas undergo one of the most rigorous selection processes in any modern army. Not only do recruits need good academic qualifications but they must complete the doko, which requires them to run five kilometres up the foothills of the Himalayas while carrying 35kg of rocks on their back. Only those fit enough to do so are deemed eligible for the Army.

The MoD hires about 230 Nepalese soldiers a year to serve as Gurkhas and at present there are about 3,500 serving with the Army, some of whom are on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the two world wars, the Gurkhas suffered 43,000 casualties and won 26 Victoria Crosses, more than any other regiment.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... sions.html