JOHNNY GURKHAS AND BRITISH TOMMIES (Satis Shroff)
Johnny Gurkhas and British Tommies (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)
Prince William has received his coveted curved knife, the Khukri, after a four-day stint with the Gurkhas. According to a close source Prince William is seriously thinking of joining the Gurkhas. This comes at a time when the Gurkhas are battling for their pensions, human rights and dual passports. For even though generations of Nepalese soldiers called the fearsome Gurkhas, have fought Britain's colonial and other wars (Falklands, Croatia, Iraq) the Gurkhas don't have the same rights as ordinary British citizens.
It was a magnificent scenario: the proud Royal Scouts led British cadets, Territorial Army and Gurkhas over Waverly Bridge and along Princes Street. The Gurkhas were led by a man in spotted leopard cloak beating a drum, followed by vehicles with armed Gurkhas.
Who are these Gurkhas? You might ask. They are Britain's 3,500 elite soldiers from the small Himalayan country Nepal. These Gurkhas have fought and died with the British Armed Forces for two centuries. This year, according to the Scotsman (news.scotsman.com), Gurkhas have been dumped back in Nepal with a stipend by the thousand. This, after two centuries of fighting your wars for you. They are not, never have been, paid the same as a British soldier.
When it comes to money-matters, the Brits have always regarded the Gurkhas as cheap labourers and mercinaries that you can recruit in a matter of months, or even weeks. There are always 28,000 young Nepalese who want to join the Royal Gurkha Brigade. Only 200 are chosen annually. What happens to the others? Do they join the Maoists to get battle experience? I knew one named Kunjo Lama who didn't make it at the recruiting depot in Dharan (Eastern Nepal) and worked as a teacher in a Nepalese village in the hills rather than face the ignominy of returning home as the laughing stock of the hamlet dwellers. Losing one's face is something serious in the Nepalese world, and for the Nepalese psyche. But Kunjo made it at the next admissions and even took part in the Falkland War at Port Stanley against the Argentinians.He showed me a photograph from his wallet of himself and his fellow Gurkhas in front of a helicopter, armed to the teeth during the war at the Malvinas.
Sometime later during a trip to London I saw how the South Asian people were living in London's East End, where the Cockneys use to live earlier, with its brick-houses (Monica Ali's 'Brick Lane'). Nay, the Gurkhas didn't even enjoy the same status as the asylum-seekers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Jamaica and other former colonies, settled in London's East End or Southhall. The Gurkhas are based in Church Crookham, Hampshire, but they are lucky if they can return to their home country after fighting Britain's wars and police missions in the British Rhine Army, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, Cyprus, Falklands, Lebanon, Croatia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
To think that so many ethnic Nepalese mothers have lost their sons, and so many children have lost their fathers and sisters their dear brothers fighting for the Glory of Britain, is indeed worth contemplating and discussing about in the London Parliament by the new government.
The Gurkhas, who are ruthless warriors at war, have always been obedient, loyal, disciplined and subordinate to their British officers for 200 years. Their loyalty and bravery have always been unfaltering. Had Indira Gandhi taken the Gurkhas as her personal bodyguards like the Queen of England, instead of the Sikhs, at a time when the storming of the Golden Temple of Amritsar was a big issue in Punjab and India, I'm sure she would have lived longer.
But most South Asians think: that's kismat. It was written in her fate that she had to die a violent death. Schicksalsdenken.
A Gurkha serves in the Army a minimum of fifteen and a maximum of thirty years after which they are discharged and obliged to leave Britain for Nepal. No, they aren't allowed to stay on, settle down and enjoy the English countryside with their meagre pensions, as far as English lifestyles and pays-scales are concerned. This speaks for the British government's nefarious 'special treaty' with the Gurkhas and the Royal Narayanhiti Palace in Kathmandu (Nepal). Nepal now has a republican government, with a Maoist as its head, the king has been ousted, and it is hoped that the new Nepalese government will make positive amendments or scrap the treaty and draw a new one with equal human rights and dual citizenships for the Gurkhas.
The British government always uses Nepal's government pay-scales as a yardstick to pay off their loyal Gurkhas. There are so many British citizens working all over the world but what would happen if they were paid according to the laws existing under the rule of Queen Victoria and received the same pay scale as in those days. The Gurkhas are not living in the past but in the present, and the cost of living is high everywhere and their families need food, clothing and education. Gurkhas aren't social cases for the men have been enlisted by Her Majesty's officers at Dharan (Nepal) to serve in the Gurkha Brigades, which officers like to emphasise as an integral part of the British Army. The British government realised soon enough that the India of the former Raj-subjects were being qualified, and were clever at Oxford and Cambridge and they wouldn't tolerate the master-and-servant relationship which the burra sahibs had propagated during the Raj.
But Nepal is another matter. The Ranas and Shahs have exploited the country and its manpower resource for longer than two centuries and were to blame for the bad manpower management deals with the then British government. Another factor that is to Nepal's disadvantage is the fact that Nepal wasn't really conquered by the East India Company, and has thus never belonged to the British Commonwealth. That explains why the wealth and equality hasn't reached Nepal's Himalayan boundaries as yet, for the targets of equality are always specific and comprise aristocratic privilege, capitalist wealth, bureaucratic power, racial or sexual supremacy, and the desire of a group of people to dominate their fellows.
Today, we have the possibility of doing away with these discriminations and injustices. Under Gordon Brown we have the chance to give the Gurkhas a helping hand of real friendship, and not only lip-service, and make good.
Prior to the EU-membership of East Bloc countries, when a Polish worker came to help pluck the strawberries in the vicinity of Freiburg (Germany), they weren't paid the actual rate for west workers in Germany either. Now that the Poles have no zlotys, and are paid in euros in their own countries, it doesn't seem to be lucrative to go all the way to Germany, with the result that the strawberries get overripe and go kaputt. Ethnic Germans are reluctant to do this back-breaking job under the blazing sun.
The British Army once sacked 111 Gurkhas, and as a result the Gurkhas wrote a petition to the Queen of England to help the men who had been sent to Nepal, and to improve the treatment of the Gurkhas (who had after all fought for Britain in the Falklands) throughout the Army. The petition to Queen Elizabeth II was signed: Your Majesty's most obedient servants. The all (sic) ranks of SP 1/7th Gurkha Rifles.
A question that vexed me is why the Gurkha children have to do the SLC (School Leaving Certificate) exams of Nepal, instead of the GCSE 'A' levels, like all school-kids in England? The British government and the Nepalese monarchs never appreciated the importance of better, higher education for the offsprings of the Gurkhas. With British educational certificates and degrees thousands of sons and daughters of the Gurkhas would have had better chances in their lives and would be much better off than their soldiering Dads and brothers. The idea from the start was to put the Gurkhas and their families in ghettos alias barracks or lines, and no attempts were made to integrate them and their families in the British society.
If a Gurkha would join France's Foreign Legion, they'd be taught the French language and would get a much better status in the French society than the British give to the Gurkhas. I don't want to say alas, but Nepal just wasn't a French colony, though the French managed to come up to an enclave named Pondicherry in India. Nepal has no special relationships with the French but with the British
There have been isolated instances of Gurkhas involved in recent courtroom skirmishes with the British Ministry of Defence to receive the same pension and conditions as other British soldiers. Whereas an ex-Gurkha received 40,000 English pounds payment from Britain after a court ruling, which was an isolated instance, another Gurkha claim was rejected by a Nepal court. 'Better to die than be a coward' is the motto of the Gurkha warriors who are an integral part of the British Army. It should run 'better to fight a battle with a good lawyer against the Ministry of Defence than against Britains foes, as we say in Germany: bis die Fronten geklärt sind.
Britain and its admirable people still have to do a bit of soul-searching on the question of their best friends-in-arms. The officers in the administration and the Defence Ministry think of the Gurkhas still as cannon-fodder and not as humans, at eye-level with the same rights and equality. They still play the game of the Raj: masters and servants. This must not be tolerated and must be put to an end by the new government at 10 Downing Street, for they have gone too far. It is hoped that the impeccable British people will rally around and support the brave, but legally weak, Gurkhas by giving them a helping hand. I know that the British people do give a helping hand to the underdogs of their own or other societies when necessary, and that I appeal to their fairness.
What is the difference between an asylum-seeker and a Gurkha in Britain? In the long run the asylum-seeker gets a British passport, British pay (if he or she's qualified) and British rights and his or her children kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities in Britain, and become a part of the British mainstream. Not so the Gurkhas and their families.
Due to questionable 'special relations' between Britain and Nepal that haven't been ratified yet, the poor Gurkha and his family have to say goodbye to Britain and head for the barren hills of Nepal. That's the plight of what Sir Ralph Turner MC, 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles, 1931 said, “Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had a country more faithful friends than you.”
When you think of how true, loyal friends are treated for their faithfulness in even present-day Britain, you can only shake your head or hide in shame.
During the Falklands War out in the Malvinas under Margret Thatcher's primiership, the British were put in an embarassing situation by Argentina's UN- representative when he accused the British of having deployed 'Gurkha mercinary' troops. The British government demented that and said it had special relationsships with Nepal and that the Gurkhas were its own troops, belonging to and integrated in the British Army.
But the sad reality is: when a British leutenant saunters by, a Gurkha-Major is obliged to salute him! And not the other way around. This still means that all soldiers are equal in the British or Gurkha army, but some solders are more equal than the others, George Orwell's Animal Farm, which Gurkha school children learn in good English schools in India's Darjeeling and Nepal. In this context it must be mentioned that 45,000 Gurkhas died in the two World Wars under the Union Jack and another thousand since then, even though the Gurkhas were reduced and demobilised to Brigade strength in the British and Regiment strength in the Indian Army. This was after the partition of India in 1947 after an agreement between Nepal, India and Britain, whereby four regiments from the Indian Army were transferred to the British Army, which then became the Gurkha Brigade.
It's still the white sahib commanding the natives, despite the so-called handsome pensions that the Gurkhas receive, according to Nepalese standards. When I lecture in Switzerland I earn almost 100 Swiss Francs per hour, like all Swiss and German lecturers, without discrimination about my origin and descent. I think that it's high time that the Gurkhas received the same wages as their British fellow soldiers. Please don't come up with the Sugauli Treaty or 'special relations crap' that dates to the times of Queen Victoria and Junga Bahadur Rana. We are living in modern times and democracy exists in England since a long time. The world has learned from the British what fairness is not only in sport but in everyday life.
I think it's high time that the Gurkhas went to an international court in Strassburg, Belgium UN(NY) and received Flankenschutz from Human Rights Organisations in Britain, Britain Watch, NGOs and whatever. Sally and rally around and give the Gurkhas a helping hand so that they can also have equal rights and their sons can receive education in Britain and when they are qualified they can work and live there. They are not exotic creatures, they are human beings who also ought to have equal human rights. Britain still has the chance to repair the damage it has done towards the Gurkhas by giving their children a decent English education, for education is the best gift we can give to children. Give education to a Gurkha child and you have given him or her something very valuable and priceless and they will be thankful all their lives.
BRITISH/GURKHA PENSIONS COMPARISON & THE MOD GOTT (AFPS)
SCHEME FOR GURKHAS (PRACTICAL PROJECT)
British/
Gurkha
(a)
Rank
(b)
Total
Pre-1997
Service
(Years)
(c)
Annual
Pension
In Sterling
(£)
(d)
Current
%
Disparity
(e)
Pre 1st July 1997
Gurkhas with
no Post-1997 GOTT Service
AFPS Benefit
Awarded
(Total Affected: Approx
35,000 Gurkhas)
(f)
GOTT Post 1st July 1997 Gurkhas
(With a combination of Pre/Post
Service as at 30/07/1997)
Total % Pre-1997 Gurkha
service ‘REDUCED’ by GOTT
for transfer to
AFPS Award
(g)
GOTT = Equal British Gurkha Pension?
(Yes*/No*)
*(Delete as necessary)
(h)
Gurkha
Major
(QGO)
32
4223
Not known
Nil
23%
(7.4 yrs AFPS pension only)
PA rate not known
Yes/No
Gurkha
Capt
(QGO)
27
3990
Not known
Nil
28%
(7.6 yrs AFPS pension only)
PA rate not known
Yes/No
Gurkha
Lt
(QGO)
24
3019
Not known
Nil
27%
(6.5 yrs AFPS pension only)
PA rate not known
Yes/No
British
WO1
22
12,114
488.63%
British PA pension remains £12,114
Yes/No
Gurkha
WO1
22
2,058
Nil
26%
(5.7 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £3138
British
WO2
22
11,392
521.83%
British PA pension remains £11,392
Yes/No
Gurkha
WO2
20
1,832
Nil
27%
(5.4 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £2,791
British
CSgt
22
10,671
530.67%
British PA pension remains £10,671
Yes/No
Gurkha
CSgt
19
1,692
Nil
27%
(5.1 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA Pension £2,473
British
Sgt
22
9,367
501.22%
British PA pension remains £9,367
Yes/No
Gurkha
Sgt
18
1,558
Nil
29%
(5.2 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £2210
British
Cpl
22
8.545
614.46%
British PA pension remains £8,545
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Gurkha
Cpl
15
1,196
Nil
30%
(4.5 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £1746
British
LCpl
22
6,624
464.22%
British PA pension remains £6,624
Gurkha
LCpl
15
1,174
Nil
36%
(5.4 year AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £1625
British
Pte
22
6,624
464.22%
British PA pension remains £6,624
Gurkha
Pte
15
1,174
Nil
36%
(5.4 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £1625
1. Gurkha pensions are converted from Sterling to Indian Currency and converted again to Nepalese currency. The exchange rate as at 26/03/07 is £1.00 = IC 85.0939. The Nepalese Rupee is pegged to the IC at NR 1.60 approx. (I am neither a mathematician nor an actuary but do try the above exercise).
1.The above comparison is based on the 2006/07 pension scales for both servicemen (AS IF BOTH SERVICEMENT WERE RECEIVING THEIR ‘CURRENT’ RESPECTIVE RANK SERVICE PENSIONS) because if the “1997 Gurkha Pension Rates” was used to calculate the above “% disparity” between British & Gurkha Pension, the disparity would be unbelieveable!!
GURKHA PLEA:
Gurkhas are not seeking the full 22 years service pension of his British counterpart’ pension but merely the equivalent proportionate rate for their rank and service because no Gurkha; with the exception of the Regimental Sergeant Major and Queen’s Gurkha Officers, are permitted to serve for 22 years. Gurkhas are further penalised harshly by the Government/MOD with the introduction of:
a. The “Pre & Post 1997” Gurkha Service Demarcation Line. The simple MOD explanation that the change of “Gurkha Home Base” from Hong Kong to UK to effect this change is bullying of her own troops.
b. The massive service reduction of “Pre 1997” Gurkha service for “Post-1997” Gurkhas at 3:1 ratio for conversion to the AFPS service is discriminatory. If this is the case then no Gurkha soldier is eligible to don his Falklands Medals, LSGC, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan etc etc campaign medals awarded “before” 1997 because they do not quality under the 3:1 reduction of Gurkha service into British service.
c. The GOTT’s unfair “AFPS 22 year service” rule to determine the award of “immediate monthly pensions to Post-1997 Gurkhas” when their “Pre-1997” service had already been reduced by almost 30% toward the AFPS scheme is disgraceful.
Will not one of our “senior” British Gurkha Officers rise to the challenge and “protect” us?
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If you don't know the impact that the death of a Gurkha can have on his near and dear-ones, then please read the following lyric and think of the plight of the Gurkha mother:
A GURKHA MOTHER (Satis Shroff)
(Death of a Precious Jewel)
The gurkha with a khukri
But no enemy
Works for the British Gurkhas
And yet gets shot at
In missions he doesn't comprehend.
Order is hukum,
Hukum is life
Johnny Gurkha still dies under foreign skies.
He never asks why
Politics isn't his style
He's fought against all and sundry:
Turks, Tibetans, Italians and Indians
Germans, Japanese, Chinese
Argentinians and Vietnamese.
Indonesians and Iraqis.
Loyalty to the utmost
Never fearing a loss.
The loss of a mother's son
From the mountains of Nepal.
Her grandpa died in Burma
For the glory of the British.
Her husband in Mesopotemia
She knows not against whom
No one did tell her.
Her brother fell in France,
Against the Teutonic hordes.
She prays to Shiva of the Snows for peace
And her son's safety.
Her joy and her hope
Farming on a terraced slope.
A son who helped wipe her tears
And ease the pain in her mother's heart.
A frugal mother who lives by the seasons
And peers down to the valleys
Year in and year out
In expectation of her soldier son.
A smart Gurkha is underway
Heard from across the hill with a shout
'It’s an officer from his battalion.
A letter with a seal and a poker-face
"Your son died on duty," he says,
"Keeping peace for Her Majesty
The Queen of England."
A world crumbles down
The Nepalese mother cannot utter a word
Gone is her son,
Her precious jewel.
Her only insurance and sunshine
In the craggy hills of Nepal.
And with him her dreams
A spartan life that kills.
Glossary:
gurkha: soldier from Nepal
khukri: curved knife used in hand-to-hand combat
hukum: Befehl/command/order
shiva: a god in Hinduism
Mail to the author from the Gurkhas stationed in the United Kingdom:
Dear Satish Ji,
Namaskar! I am a retired Gurkha soldier, currently residing in Nottingham. I read your recent article “The British and the Gurkhas: Worlds Apart”. Many thanks for this and I really appreciate your article which is very informative. I have several contacts and will certainly pass this article to them.
I served 20 years under the flagship of the Union Jack in the Gurkha Regiment, but never had a chance to deploy in active war. During my 20 years experience, there were so many discriminations being laid in between British and Gurkha soldiers. I always asked myself, why they are treating us like this even when we deploy in the war alongside British counterparts, the enemy never spare us because of our cheap status. But we were sought to keep remaining quiet. Our Senior Officers were British, trained at Sandhurst Academy and the way they were treating us very painful in terms of comparing the way of life in Britain and Nepal.
As you had written 111 Gurkha soldiers were sent home without pension from Hawaii incident. The main cause was their Company Commander, the British Major (no name). He was so cruel and always been treated the Gurkha soldiers as slaves and he gave a speech to the American soldiers highlighting that the Gurkha soldiers are very poor in Nepal, uncivilized etc…. Although we were taught hard and respect our seniors, 111 soldiers could not bear this humiliation and the incident took place.
After having been fighting against with the British Government by the series of Ex-Gurkha Servicemen Organisation more than a decade, finally the British Government has given green light to settle the Gurkhas in the UK, but setting the magic cut off date of 1997. Those who are retired before 1997 are not allowed to settle in UK. Now, the British Government has reviewed the new terms and conditions of the Gurkhas after much pressure delivered by the some Ex-Gurkha Servicemen Organisations. The British Government reviewed and this special news of treating same footage of British counterparts been spread all over the world via media, but they did not review as per British soldiers.
Tul Bahadur Pun, VC, 84 arrived in UK on 5 July for his medical treatment. He was barred by the British Embassy to grant settlement visa a month ago. His application was rejected by saying” He has no close tie with Britain”, what a shame! This was the man who was awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II saving the Gurkhas and British soldiers in the battle field and he was fighting for Britain, not for Nepal or other countries. He was later granted a settlement visa after much pressure created by the British public. We have many widows, orphans and Gurkha veterans without pension. This is how we do not understand that the BritishGovernment can move the gaol post at any place and at any time he wishes, negating the human rights and delivering injustice to the Gurkhas who have fought for Britain and given their lives by the thousands.
Satisji, again. Thank you very much for your article.
GopalKumar Rai
From : Nottingham
Sir,
A friend forwarded an article you had written about the Gurkhas and their British masters. I am impressed by your knowledge of the 'internal going-ons' within a Gurkha regiment and that the facts in your article reflects the true goin-ons in a Gurkha regiment.
Yet again, we have lost out on our demands for equal pensions. The government has on 08 March 2007 announced equal pensions that have once again fooled the general public. My British friends congratulate me that finally I will now receive equal pensions with my British counterpart.
The real picture is now that the British Government has given equal pensions to Gurkhas I as a Warrant Officer 2 get an annual pension of £3138 for 22 years service against my British counterparts annual pension of £12,114 for 22 years service. The British Government calls this equalpension! Could I please request your kind assistance in spreading this word far and wide.
I hope you have the time to study the attached British/Gurkha Pension rates.
With kind regards.
Ganesh Limbu
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Short-story:
DESTINATION DARJEELING (Satis Shroff)
"That's a terrible injustice," said Raj Rana aloud at the Paddington Station. Mr. Rana was at the station, on his way to Gatwick Airport. From there he had a flight ticket from Her Majesty’s Government to Nepal after long years of service in the British Gurkhas.
"What do you mean, Raj-ji?" said the turbaned Punjabi bus-driver from London, whom he'd known for a decade.
"The Brits are not nice to the Gurkhas. Look at me. I slaved for the Union Jack during the Falkland War. My father fought for the Brits in the World War II and was wounded by the Germans."
"Why join the British or Indian Army? Just apply for political asylum like me. I came over when the Indian Army stormed our Golden Temple in Amritsar."
"It's not easy for Nepalese to apply for asylum."
"Why? Everybody gets an asylum in Britain. Look at the streets in the East End, Southhall. Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Nigerians, Jamaicans everywhere."
"The British and German authorities always say: "Nepal is a peaceful country. There's no war out there. The tourists go there all the time. How can we Gurkhas convince the British government that we want to stay on in England after we've done our service? They always send us home," said Mr. Rana.
"Home is where your heart is," said the Sikh, thoughtfully smoothening his moustache.
"Exactly. My heart is in England. My wife also wants to stay here and so do our two children."
"When I was in India I used to say, "Indian government, no good government. Apply, apply, no reply," said the Punjabi whose name was Avtar Singh. He’d found it difficult to get jobs in India. He'd sent out a lot of applications without any success.
The Gurkha Raj Rana replied, "Now I'm in Britain and I'm saying British government, no good government. The British we meet in everyday life are splendid people, straightforward and helpful, and hold us in high regard. We, Gurkhas, have fought for England since 1816.
"You Nepalese have no lobby in Britain. That's the reason why the Brits treat you like that," said Mr.Singh, scratching under his turban for the sun was shining that day in London. He’d brought along his telescope umbrella along. You never knew with English weather.
"No lobby? How can we have a lobby when we live in barracks with our families. No contact with the British people. Our children have to do SLC, and not GCSE certificates when they finish schooling."
"SLC?"
Mr. Rana explained, "School Leaving Certificate, a paper from Nepal."
Mr. Singh suddenly came up with: "You know what, Rana-ji? I think it's because Nepal was never in the Commonwealth."
"Do we have to apologise that we've remained an independent and sovereign state?" said Mr. Rana.
"During the Falkland War the British government said, ‘The Gurkhas are an integral part of the British Army,’" said the Gurkha.
"Yes, I remember reading about it. It was because the Argentinians protested in the UNO that the British were deploying mercenary soldiers," said Mr. Singh.
“Some mercinary soldiers, “ remarked Mr. Rana. “For our bravery and loyalty, the Queen of England awarded us 6,500 decorations, including 13 Victoria Crosses and two George Cross medals. But you can’t live on medals alone, you know, Mr. Singh.”
"If we are equal to the British soldiers and an integral part of the Army, then why do we have lesser pay than the British soldiers?" said Mr. Rana.
"You are right. Why? I get the same pay as a white Cockney bus-driver."
"I think you people have no lawyers and politicians behind you."
"Mrs. Blair fought for our rights once. But her husband is no longer in politics."
Expressing solidarity with the Gurkha movement, Liberal Democratic MP of the British parliament, Peter Carroll, had once said that the 1997 cut off date was unjustified, and that it was wrong for UK to continue to discriminate against people who had defended the UK and even sacrificed their lives, while protecting Britain and the crown. A delegation of former Gurkhas had later handed over a petition at the 10 Downing Street, the office of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and held a meeting with Veterans Minister of the British government, Derek Twiggs. In a letter faxed to GAESO and the United British Gurkha Ex-Servicemen’s Association in Nepal, Col. R.J.J. Ellis defended the cut-off date as being the day “when the (Gurkha) Brigade became a UK-based force.” On July 1, 1997, the brigade was moved to Britain from Hong Kong because the British were obliged to hand over the former Crown Colony to China.
Mahendra Lal Rai, Secretary of GAESO went on record as saying: “We will continue our fight for equal rights on the streets, as well as in court rooms against the discriminatory policies of the British government.” Very little had happened since then.
The British authorities had refuted allegations that there has been discrimination against the 3,500 British Gurkha soldiers serving in the British army.
"Besharam! Such an impertinence," said Mr. Singh, with a big sigh.
The train came and Mr. Singh hugged Mr. Rana, who entered the compartment, waved at a smiling Mr. Singh with his family, and in their thoughts they were already in Katmandu, where things were uncertain and a Maoist republic awaited them, with hikes in prices of basic commodities, political instability. Nepal seemed to be disintegrating because there was no unifying figure. The people in Nepal’s southern Terai were demanding a separate state and recognition of Hindi as the language of the Madhisays, and some had even suggested that the Terai, Nepal’s Corn Chamber, should become a state of the Indian Union. Perhaps that’s how a democratic republic functioned in the early stages.
Mr. Rana felt a terrible feeling of nausea sweeping over him when he thought about the forthcoming trip to his second homeland Darjeeling. Those grabbing Bengali customs officers who were out to rob the Gurkhas by pretending to demand taxes for foreign luxury items. Even gadgets that one used daily like hair-dryers, electric shavers, kitchen appliances were ‘taxed’ without receipts, which meant the money wandered into the pockets of the Bengali customs officers, and the Indian, or for that matter the Bengal government received nothing from this border-income. That was how it functioned.
As in the late eighties, there was the danger of a Gorkhaland civil war because a lot of problems were still unsolved. The Gorkhalis were divided now, and Subhas Ghising’s work with his Hill Council was being challenged. Bimal Gurung was gaining in profile. Jyoti Basu’s communist government was, as usual, using political delay tactics when it came to Gorkhaland issues. Where was it better? To live in strife-torn Gorkhaland or in Nepal, a republic run by a Maoist leader? Mr. Rana and his wife had to decide fast.
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Commentary on Johnny Gurkhas and British Tommies:
Unspoken Barriers and the Need For a Deeper Cultural Change (Satis Shroff)
There is no major transformation in the workplace of the Gurkhas, and the pay gap still remains, even though the Gurkhas are an integral part of the British Army. Discrimination still exists between the officers and the Gurkhas, between the British government and the soldiers Gurkha Brigades. Whereas a Johnny Gurkha gets £46 per month during service, a British Tommie gets £450.
What the government ought to introduce, and the public ought to fight for, is a Gurkha Discrimination Act during or in the next legislative period. On March 2, 2008 the 30th anniversary of the Wilson government’s Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Opportunities Commission was introduced in Britain. Harassment of the Gurkhas by some of their sadistic officers should be made a form of discrimination and the officers court marshalled or brought to justice.
The Labour introduced the Equal Pay Act in 1970. The equal pay was for all British subjects, but not for the British Gurkhas. The Nepalese serving in the Brigade of Gurkhas in England might not be British subjects, but if they are an integral part of the British Army, then they should also be given the same pay. It might be mentioned that not only the Gurkhas but also the British women part-time workers earn 40% less per hour than full-time British men.
The Gurkhas are full-time professional soldiers. But as far as the dictates of Her Majesty’s Ministry of Defence is concerned, all soldiers of Britain are equal but some soldiers are still more equal than the others. What would George Orwell of ‘Animal Farm’ fame say to that?
The Gurkhas are employed primarily in the public sector as regular soldiers recruited in Nepal, and to some extent in the private sector as trusted and efficient security guards. The British have recruited even Nepalese women for a female version of the Gurkhas, and they do their military duties in the Emirates, of course, for the business delights of the British government.
Protection against discrimination is important, and it does not suffice just to write about the flavour of the extraordinary relationship which existed, and still exists, between the British officer and the Gurkha soldier. After all, the brave Gurkhas have fought under the Union Jack in France, Gallipoli, Suez and Mesopotamia in the World War I, and in Singapore, Italy and North Africa in the World War II. In the post World War era, the Gurkhas have worked in the Falkland War, Kosovo, Croatia and Iraq.
The Gurkha-problem has to be solved and the Gurkhas given equal rights, and the choice to stay on in Britain if they choose, after they are pensioned from their Army service. The Gurkha children should be allowed to attend normal British schools and do their GCSEs, A-levels, go to British universities and enter into the professions, just as any British subject. Gurkhas born in the United Kingdom and its overseas territories should be automatically granted British citizenship—without coffing up excuses about outdated British-Nepalese treaties and agreements. The soldiers in the French Foreign Legion are previliged and respected in the French society but the Gurkhas are declared persona non grata in England and the society once they develop gerontological problems and refused medical treatment by the NHS in Britain.
On the issue of the Gurkhas during the partition of Hindustan into India and Pakistan in 1947, the British General Tuker said: “Our own British fault. We had hopelessly mishandled the whole business.” The Gurkha Army Ex-servicemen’s Organization (GAESO) has been demanding rights for the Gurkhas for almost 15 years. Previously, the British Army had a pension plan for Gurkhas in which they received only one-sixth of what British soldiers got under the AFP. In order to qualify for that inferior pension plan, a Gurkha needed to serve for 15 years, while a British Tommie could be eligible for the AFP program after just two years in service.
While the recent review ensures pension parity for future Gurkha recruits, the cut-off date effectively leaves out nearly 40,000 living Gurkhas who retired before 1997, many of whom live in poverty in Nepal. The British social organisations and the government don’t care about the fate of the old pensioned Gurkhas because the government can recruit any number of cannon-fodder in the hills of Nepal. The Brits have only to beckon and the prospective Gurkhas come streaming down from the hills to be recruited for the Gurkha Brigade and a trip to England, and where ever the British are engaged in a skirmish around the globe.
The mishandling of the Gurkha-business can now be corrected and the Johnny Gurkhas given their due in terms of equal salary, respect, tolerance and chances in the British society—much like the British Tommies. When you come to think of the 6,500 decorations to Gurkhas for their bravery and loyalty, including 13 Victoria Crosses and two George Cross medals, and the 45,000 Gurkha deaths in battle during Britain’s wars since 1816 till now. An additional 150,000 were injured, according to an eight-member independent international commission that visited Nepal in May 2005.
A nation has to go with the times.
Quo vadis, United Kingdom?
Prince William has received his coveted curved knife, the Khukri, after a four-day stint with the Gurkhas. According to a close source Prince William is seriously thinking of joining the Gurkhas. This comes at a time when the Gurkhas are battling for their pensions, human rights and dual passports. For even though generations of Nepalese soldiers called the fearsome Gurkhas, have fought Britain's colonial and other wars (Falklands, Croatia, Iraq) the Gurkhas don't have the same rights as ordinary British citizens.
It was a magnificent scenario: the proud Royal Scouts led British cadets, Territorial Army and Gurkhas over Waverly Bridge and along Princes Street. The Gurkhas were led by a man in spotted leopard cloak beating a drum, followed by vehicles with armed Gurkhas.
Who are these Gurkhas? You might ask. They are Britain's 3,500 elite soldiers from the small Himalayan country Nepal. These Gurkhas have fought and died with the British Armed Forces for two centuries. This year, according to the Scotsman (news.scotsman.com), Gurkhas have been dumped back in Nepal with a stipend by the thousand. This, after two centuries of fighting your wars for you. They are not, never have been, paid the same as a British soldier.
When it comes to money-matters, the Brits have always regarded the Gurkhas as cheap labourers and mercinaries that you can recruit in a matter of months, or even weeks. There are always 28,000 young Nepalese who want to join the Royal Gurkha Brigade. Only 200 are chosen annually. What happens to the others? Do they join the Maoists to get battle experience? I knew one named Kunjo Lama who didn't make it at the recruiting depot in Dharan (Eastern Nepal) and worked as a teacher in a Nepalese village in the hills rather than face the ignominy of returning home as the laughing stock of the hamlet dwellers. Losing one's face is something serious in the Nepalese world, and for the Nepalese psyche. But Kunjo made it at the next admissions and even took part in the Falkland War at Port Stanley against the Argentinians.He showed me a photograph from his wallet of himself and his fellow Gurkhas in front of a helicopter, armed to the teeth during the war at the Malvinas.
Sometime later during a trip to London I saw how the South Asian people were living in London's East End, where the Cockneys use to live earlier, with its brick-houses (Monica Ali's 'Brick Lane'). Nay, the Gurkhas didn't even enjoy the same status as the asylum-seekers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Jamaica and other former colonies, settled in London's East End or Southhall. The Gurkhas are based in Church Crookham, Hampshire, but they are lucky if they can return to their home country after fighting Britain's wars and police missions in the British Rhine Army, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, Cyprus, Falklands, Lebanon, Croatia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
To think that so many ethnic Nepalese mothers have lost their sons, and so many children have lost their fathers and sisters their dear brothers fighting for the Glory of Britain, is indeed worth contemplating and discussing about in the London Parliament by the new government.
The Gurkhas, who are ruthless warriors at war, have always been obedient, loyal, disciplined and subordinate to their British officers for 200 years. Their loyalty and bravery have always been unfaltering. Had Indira Gandhi taken the Gurkhas as her personal bodyguards like the Queen of England, instead of the Sikhs, at a time when the storming of the Golden Temple of Amritsar was a big issue in Punjab and India, I'm sure she would have lived longer.
But most South Asians think: that's kismat. It was written in her fate that she had to die a violent death. Schicksalsdenken.
A Gurkha serves in the Army a minimum of fifteen and a maximum of thirty years after which they are discharged and obliged to leave Britain for Nepal. No, they aren't allowed to stay on, settle down and enjoy the English countryside with their meagre pensions, as far as English lifestyles and pays-scales are concerned. This speaks for the British government's nefarious 'special treaty' with the Gurkhas and the Royal Narayanhiti Palace in Kathmandu (Nepal). Nepal now has a republican government, with a Maoist as its head, the king has been ousted, and it is hoped that the new Nepalese government will make positive amendments or scrap the treaty and draw a new one with equal human rights and dual citizenships for the Gurkhas.
The British government always uses Nepal's government pay-scales as a yardstick to pay off their loyal Gurkhas. There are so many British citizens working all over the world but what would happen if they were paid according to the laws existing under the rule of Queen Victoria and received the same pay scale as in those days. The Gurkhas are not living in the past but in the present, and the cost of living is high everywhere and their families need food, clothing and education. Gurkhas aren't social cases for the men have been enlisted by Her Majesty's officers at Dharan (Nepal) to serve in the Gurkha Brigades, which officers like to emphasise as an integral part of the British Army. The British government realised soon enough that the India of the former Raj-subjects were being qualified, and were clever at Oxford and Cambridge and they wouldn't tolerate the master-and-servant relationship which the burra sahibs had propagated during the Raj.
But Nepal is another matter. The Ranas and Shahs have exploited the country and its manpower resource for longer than two centuries and were to blame for the bad manpower management deals with the then British government. Another factor that is to Nepal's disadvantage is the fact that Nepal wasn't really conquered by the East India Company, and has thus never belonged to the British Commonwealth. That explains why the wealth and equality hasn't reached Nepal's Himalayan boundaries as yet, for the targets of equality are always specific and comprise aristocratic privilege, capitalist wealth, bureaucratic power, racial or sexual supremacy, and the desire of a group of people to dominate their fellows.
Today, we have the possibility of doing away with these discriminations and injustices. Under Gordon Brown we have the chance to give the Gurkhas a helping hand of real friendship, and not only lip-service, and make good.
Prior to the EU-membership of East Bloc countries, when a Polish worker came to help pluck the strawberries in the vicinity of Freiburg (Germany), they weren't paid the actual rate for west workers in Germany either. Now that the Poles have no zlotys, and are paid in euros in their own countries, it doesn't seem to be lucrative to go all the way to Germany, with the result that the strawberries get overripe and go kaputt. Ethnic Germans are reluctant to do this back-breaking job under the blazing sun.
The British Army once sacked 111 Gurkhas, and as a result the Gurkhas wrote a petition to the Queen of England to help the men who had been sent to Nepal, and to improve the treatment of the Gurkhas (who had after all fought for Britain in the Falklands) throughout the Army. The petition to Queen Elizabeth II was signed: Your Majesty's most obedient servants. The all (sic) ranks of SP 1/7th Gurkha Rifles.
A question that vexed me is why the Gurkha children have to do the SLC (School Leaving Certificate) exams of Nepal, instead of the GCSE 'A' levels, like all school-kids in England? The British government and the Nepalese monarchs never appreciated the importance of better, higher education for the offsprings of the Gurkhas. With British educational certificates and degrees thousands of sons and daughters of the Gurkhas would have had better chances in their lives and would be much better off than their soldiering Dads and brothers. The idea from the start was to put the Gurkhas and their families in ghettos alias barracks or lines, and no attempts were made to integrate them and their families in the British society.
If a Gurkha would join France's Foreign Legion, they'd be taught the French language and would get a much better status in the French society than the British give to the Gurkhas. I don't want to say alas, but Nepal just wasn't a French colony, though the French managed to come up to an enclave named Pondicherry in India. Nepal has no special relationships with the French but with the British
There have been isolated instances of Gurkhas involved in recent courtroom skirmishes with the British Ministry of Defence to receive the same pension and conditions as other British soldiers. Whereas an ex-Gurkha received 40,000 English pounds payment from Britain after a court ruling, which was an isolated instance, another Gurkha claim was rejected by a Nepal court. 'Better to die than be a coward' is the motto of the Gurkha warriors who are an integral part of the British Army. It should run 'better to fight a battle with a good lawyer against the Ministry of Defence than against Britains foes, as we say in Germany: bis die Fronten geklärt sind.
Britain and its admirable people still have to do a bit of soul-searching on the question of their best friends-in-arms. The officers in the administration and the Defence Ministry think of the Gurkhas still as cannon-fodder and not as humans, at eye-level with the same rights and equality. They still play the game of the Raj: masters and servants. This must not be tolerated and must be put to an end by the new government at 10 Downing Street, for they have gone too far. It is hoped that the impeccable British people will rally around and support the brave, but legally weak, Gurkhas by giving them a helping hand. I know that the British people do give a helping hand to the underdogs of their own or other societies when necessary, and that I appeal to their fairness.
What is the difference between an asylum-seeker and a Gurkha in Britain? In the long run the asylum-seeker gets a British passport, British pay (if he or she's qualified) and British rights and his or her children kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities in Britain, and become a part of the British mainstream. Not so the Gurkhas and their families.
Due to questionable 'special relations' between Britain and Nepal that haven't been ratified yet, the poor Gurkha and his family have to say goodbye to Britain and head for the barren hills of Nepal. That's the plight of what Sir Ralph Turner MC, 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles, 1931 said, “Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had a country more faithful friends than you.”
When you think of how true, loyal friends are treated for their faithfulness in even present-day Britain, you can only shake your head or hide in shame.
During the Falklands War out in the Malvinas under Margret Thatcher's primiership, the British were put in an embarassing situation by Argentina's UN- representative when he accused the British of having deployed 'Gurkha mercinary' troops. The British government demented that and said it had special relationsships with Nepal and that the Gurkhas were its own troops, belonging to and integrated in the British Army.
But the sad reality is: when a British leutenant saunters by, a Gurkha-Major is obliged to salute him! And not the other way around. This still means that all soldiers are equal in the British or Gurkha army, but some solders are more equal than the others, George Orwell's Animal Farm, which Gurkha school children learn in good English schools in India's Darjeeling and Nepal. In this context it must be mentioned that 45,000 Gurkhas died in the two World Wars under the Union Jack and another thousand since then, even though the Gurkhas were reduced and demobilised to Brigade strength in the British and Regiment strength in the Indian Army. This was after the partition of India in 1947 after an agreement between Nepal, India and Britain, whereby four regiments from the Indian Army were transferred to the British Army, which then became the Gurkha Brigade.
It's still the white sahib commanding the natives, despite the so-called handsome pensions that the Gurkhas receive, according to Nepalese standards. When I lecture in Switzerland I earn almost 100 Swiss Francs per hour, like all Swiss and German lecturers, without discrimination about my origin and descent. I think that it's high time that the Gurkhas received the same wages as their British fellow soldiers. Please don't come up with the Sugauli Treaty or 'special relations crap' that dates to the times of Queen Victoria and Junga Bahadur Rana. We are living in modern times and democracy exists in England since a long time. The world has learned from the British what fairness is not only in sport but in everyday life.
I think it's high time that the Gurkhas went to an international court in Strassburg, Belgium UN(NY) and received Flankenschutz from Human Rights Organisations in Britain, Britain Watch, NGOs and whatever. Sally and rally around and give the Gurkhas a helping hand so that they can also have equal rights and their sons can receive education in Britain and when they are qualified they can work and live there. They are not exotic creatures, they are human beings who also ought to have equal human rights. Britain still has the chance to repair the damage it has done towards the Gurkhas by giving their children a decent English education, for education is the best gift we can give to children. Give education to a Gurkha child and you have given him or her something very valuable and priceless and they will be thankful all their lives.
BRITISH/GURKHA PENSIONS COMPARISON & THE MOD GOTT (AFPS)
SCHEME FOR GURKHAS (PRACTICAL PROJECT)
British/
Gurkha
(a)
Rank
(b)
Total
Pre-1997
Service
(Years)
(c)
Annual
Pension
In Sterling
(£)
(d)
Current
%
Disparity
(e)
Pre 1st July 1997
Gurkhas with
no Post-1997 GOTT Service
AFPS Benefit
Awarded
(Total Affected: Approx
35,000 Gurkhas)
(f)
GOTT Post 1st July 1997 Gurkhas
(With a combination of Pre/Post
Service as at 30/07/1997)
Total % Pre-1997 Gurkha
service ‘REDUCED’ by GOTT
for transfer to
AFPS Award
(g)
GOTT = Equal British Gurkha Pension?
(Yes*/No*)
*(Delete as necessary)
(h)
Gurkha
Major
(QGO)
32
4223
Not known
Nil
23%
(7.4 yrs AFPS pension only)
PA rate not known
Yes/No
Gurkha
Capt
(QGO)
27
3990
Not known
Nil
28%
(7.6 yrs AFPS pension only)
PA rate not known
Yes/No
Gurkha
Lt
(QGO)
24
3019
Not known
Nil
27%
(6.5 yrs AFPS pension only)
PA rate not known
Yes/No
British
WO1
22
12,114
488.63%
British PA pension remains £12,114
Yes/No
Gurkha
WO1
22
2,058
Nil
26%
(5.7 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £3138
British
WO2
22
11,392
521.83%
British PA pension remains £11,392
Yes/No
Gurkha
WO2
20
1,832
Nil
27%
(5.4 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £2,791
British
CSgt
22
10,671
530.67%
British PA pension remains £10,671
Yes/No
Gurkha
CSgt
19
1,692
Nil
27%
(5.1 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA Pension £2,473
British
Sgt
22
9,367
501.22%
British PA pension remains £9,367
Yes/No
Gurkha
Sgt
18
1,558
Nil
29%
(5.2 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £2210
British
Cpl
22
8.545
614.46%
British PA pension remains £8,545
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Gurkha
Cpl
15
1,196
Nil
30%
(4.5 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £1746
British
LCpl
22
6,624
464.22%
British PA pension remains £6,624
Gurkha
LCpl
15
1,174
Nil
36%
(5.4 year AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £1625
British
Pte
22
6,624
464.22%
British PA pension remains £6,624
Gurkha
Pte
15
1,174
Nil
36%
(5.4 yrs AFPS pension only)
Gurkha AFPS PA pension £1625
1. Gurkha pensions are converted from Sterling to Indian Currency and converted again to Nepalese currency. The exchange rate as at 26/03/07 is £1.00 = IC 85.0939. The Nepalese Rupee is pegged to the IC at NR 1.60 approx. (I am neither a mathematician nor an actuary but do try the above exercise).
1.The above comparison is based on the 2006/07 pension scales for both servicemen (AS IF BOTH SERVICEMENT WERE RECEIVING THEIR ‘CURRENT’ RESPECTIVE RANK SERVICE PENSIONS) because if the “1997 Gurkha Pension Rates” was used to calculate the above “% disparity” between British & Gurkha Pension, the disparity would be unbelieveable!!
GURKHA PLEA:
Gurkhas are not seeking the full 22 years service pension of his British counterpart’ pension but merely the equivalent proportionate rate for their rank and service because no Gurkha; with the exception of the Regimental Sergeant Major and Queen’s Gurkha Officers, are permitted to serve for 22 years. Gurkhas are further penalised harshly by the Government/MOD with the introduction of:
a. The “Pre & Post 1997” Gurkha Service Demarcation Line. The simple MOD explanation that the change of “Gurkha Home Base” from Hong Kong to UK to effect this change is bullying of her own troops.
b. The massive service reduction of “Pre 1997” Gurkha service for “Post-1997” Gurkhas at 3:1 ratio for conversion to the AFPS service is discriminatory. If this is the case then no Gurkha soldier is eligible to don his Falklands Medals, LSGC, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan etc etc campaign medals awarded “before” 1997 because they do not quality under the 3:1 reduction of Gurkha service into British service.
c. The GOTT’s unfair “AFPS 22 year service” rule to determine the award of “immediate monthly pensions to Post-1997 Gurkhas” when their “Pre-1997” service had already been reduced by almost 30% toward the AFPS scheme is disgraceful.
Will not one of our “senior” British Gurkha Officers rise to the challenge and “protect” us?
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If you don't know the impact that the death of a Gurkha can have on his near and dear-ones, then please read the following lyric and think of the plight of the Gurkha mother:
A GURKHA MOTHER (Satis Shroff)
(Death of a Precious Jewel)
The gurkha with a khukri
But no enemy
Works for the British Gurkhas
And yet gets shot at
In missions he doesn't comprehend.
Order is hukum,
Hukum is life
Johnny Gurkha still dies under foreign skies.
He never asks why
Politics isn't his style
He's fought against all and sundry:
Turks, Tibetans, Italians and Indians
Germans, Japanese, Chinese
Argentinians and Vietnamese.
Indonesians and Iraqis.
Loyalty to the utmost
Never fearing a loss.
The loss of a mother's son
From the mountains of Nepal.
Her grandpa died in Burma
For the glory of the British.
Her husband in Mesopotemia
She knows not against whom
No one did tell her.
Her brother fell in France,
Against the Teutonic hordes.
She prays to Shiva of the Snows for peace
And her son's safety.
Her joy and her hope
Farming on a terraced slope.
A son who helped wipe her tears
And ease the pain in her mother's heart.
A frugal mother who lives by the seasons
And peers down to the valleys
Year in and year out
In expectation of her soldier son.
A smart Gurkha is underway
Heard from across the hill with a shout
'It’s an officer from his battalion.
A letter with a seal and a poker-face
"Your son died on duty," he says,
"Keeping peace for Her Majesty
The Queen of England."
A world crumbles down
The Nepalese mother cannot utter a word
Gone is her son,
Her precious jewel.
Her only insurance and sunshine
In the craggy hills of Nepal.
And with him her dreams
A spartan life that kills.
Glossary:
gurkha: soldier from Nepal
khukri: curved knife used in hand-to-hand combat
hukum: Befehl/command/order
shiva: a god in Hinduism
Mail to the author from the Gurkhas stationed in the United Kingdom:
Dear Satish Ji,
Namaskar! I am a retired Gurkha soldier, currently residing in Nottingham. I read your recent article “The British and the Gurkhas: Worlds Apart”. Many thanks for this and I really appreciate your article which is very informative. I have several contacts and will certainly pass this article to them.
I served 20 years under the flagship of the Union Jack in the Gurkha Regiment, but never had a chance to deploy in active war. During my 20 years experience, there were so many discriminations being laid in between British and Gurkha soldiers. I always asked myself, why they are treating us like this even when we deploy in the war alongside British counterparts, the enemy never spare us because of our cheap status. But we were sought to keep remaining quiet. Our Senior Officers were British, trained at Sandhurst Academy and the way they were treating us very painful in terms of comparing the way of life in Britain and Nepal.
As you had written 111 Gurkha soldiers were sent home without pension from Hawaii incident. The main cause was their Company Commander, the British Major (no name). He was so cruel and always been treated the Gurkha soldiers as slaves and he gave a speech to the American soldiers highlighting that the Gurkha soldiers are very poor in Nepal, uncivilized etc…. Although we were taught hard and respect our seniors, 111 soldiers could not bear this humiliation and the incident took place.
After having been fighting against with the British Government by the series of Ex-Gurkha Servicemen Organisation more than a decade, finally the British Government has given green light to settle the Gurkhas in the UK, but setting the magic cut off date of 1997. Those who are retired before 1997 are not allowed to settle in UK. Now, the British Government has reviewed the new terms and conditions of the Gurkhas after much pressure delivered by the some Ex-Gurkha Servicemen Organisations. The British Government reviewed and this special news of treating same footage of British counterparts been spread all over the world via media, but they did not review as per British soldiers.
Tul Bahadur Pun, VC, 84 arrived in UK on 5 July for his medical treatment. He was barred by the British Embassy to grant settlement visa a month ago. His application was rejected by saying” He has no close tie with Britain”, what a shame! This was the man who was awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II saving the Gurkhas and British soldiers in the battle field and he was fighting for Britain, not for Nepal or other countries. He was later granted a settlement visa after much pressure created by the British public. We have many widows, orphans and Gurkha veterans without pension. This is how we do not understand that the BritishGovernment can move the gaol post at any place and at any time he wishes, negating the human rights and delivering injustice to the Gurkhas who have fought for Britain and given their lives by the thousands.
Satisji, again. Thank you very much for your article.
GopalKumar Rai
From : Nottingham
Sir,
A friend forwarded an article you had written about the Gurkhas and their British masters. I am impressed by your knowledge of the 'internal going-ons' within a Gurkha regiment and that the facts in your article reflects the true goin-ons in a Gurkha regiment.
Yet again, we have lost out on our demands for equal pensions. The government has on 08 March 2007 announced equal pensions that have once again fooled the general public. My British friends congratulate me that finally I will now receive equal pensions with my British counterpart.
The real picture is now that the British Government has given equal pensions to Gurkhas I as a Warrant Officer 2 get an annual pension of £3138 for 22 years service against my British counterparts annual pension of £12,114 for 22 years service. The British Government calls this equalpension! Could I please request your kind assistance in spreading this word far and wide.
I hope you have the time to study the attached British/Gurkha Pension rates.
With kind regards.
Ganesh Limbu
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Short-story:
DESTINATION DARJEELING (Satis Shroff)
"That's a terrible injustice," said Raj Rana aloud at the Paddington Station. Mr. Rana was at the station, on his way to Gatwick Airport. From there he had a flight ticket from Her Majesty’s Government to Nepal after long years of service in the British Gurkhas.
"What do you mean, Raj-ji?" said the turbaned Punjabi bus-driver from London, whom he'd known for a decade.
"The Brits are not nice to the Gurkhas. Look at me. I slaved for the Union Jack during the Falkland War. My father fought for the Brits in the World War II and was wounded by the Germans."
"Why join the British or Indian Army? Just apply for political asylum like me. I came over when the Indian Army stormed our Golden Temple in Amritsar."
"It's not easy for Nepalese to apply for asylum."
"Why? Everybody gets an asylum in Britain. Look at the streets in the East End, Southhall. Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Nigerians, Jamaicans everywhere."
"The British and German authorities always say: "Nepal is a peaceful country. There's no war out there. The tourists go there all the time. How can we Gurkhas convince the British government that we want to stay on in England after we've done our service? They always send us home," said Mr. Rana.
"Home is where your heart is," said the Sikh, thoughtfully smoothening his moustache.
"Exactly. My heart is in England. My wife also wants to stay here and so do our two children."
"When I was in India I used to say, "Indian government, no good government. Apply, apply, no reply," said the Punjabi whose name was Avtar Singh. He’d found it difficult to get jobs in India. He'd sent out a lot of applications without any success.
The Gurkha Raj Rana replied, "Now I'm in Britain and I'm saying British government, no good government. The British we meet in everyday life are splendid people, straightforward and helpful, and hold us in high regard. We, Gurkhas, have fought for England since 1816.
"You Nepalese have no lobby in Britain. That's the reason why the Brits treat you like that," said Mr.Singh, scratching under his turban for the sun was shining that day in London. He’d brought along his telescope umbrella along. You never knew with English weather.
"No lobby? How can we have a lobby when we live in barracks with our families. No contact with the British people. Our children have to do SLC, and not GCSE certificates when they finish schooling."
"SLC?"
Mr. Rana explained, "School Leaving Certificate, a paper from Nepal."
Mr. Singh suddenly came up with: "You know what, Rana-ji? I think it's because Nepal was never in the Commonwealth."
"Do we have to apologise that we've remained an independent and sovereign state?" said Mr. Rana.
"During the Falkland War the British government said, ‘The Gurkhas are an integral part of the British Army,’" said the Gurkha.
"Yes, I remember reading about it. It was because the Argentinians protested in the UNO that the British were deploying mercenary soldiers," said Mr. Singh.
“Some mercinary soldiers, “ remarked Mr. Rana. “For our bravery and loyalty, the Queen of England awarded us 6,500 decorations, including 13 Victoria Crosses and two George Cross medals. But you can’t live on medals alone, you know, Mr. Singh.”
"If we are equal to the British soldiers and an integral part of the Army, then why do we have lesser pay than the British soldiers?" said Mr. Rana.
"You are right. Why? I get the same pay as a white Cockney bus-driver."
"I think you people have no lawyers and politicians behind you."
"Mrs. Blair fought for our rights once. But her husband is no longer in politics."
Expressing solidarity with the Gurkha movement, Liberal Democratic MP of the British parliament, Peter Carroll, had once said that the 1997 cut off date was unjustified, and that it was wrong for UK to continue to discriminate against people who had defended the UK and even sacrificed their lives, while protecting Britain and the crown. A delegation of former Gurkhas had later handed over a petition at the 10 Downing Street, the office of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and held a meeting with Veterans Minister of the British government, Derek Twiggs. In a letter faxed to GAESO and the United British Gurkha Ex-Servicemen’s Association in Nepal, Col. R.J.J. Ellis defended the cut-off date as being the day “when the (Gurkha) Brigade became a UK-based force.” On July 1, 1997, the brigade was moved to Britain from Hong Kong because the British were obliged to hand over the former Crown Colony to China.
Mahendra Lal Rai, Secretary of GAESO went on record as saying: “We will continue our fight for equal rights on the streets, as well as in court rooms against the discriminatory policies of the British government.” Very little had happened since then.
The British authorities had refuted allegations that there has been discrimination against the 3,500 British Gurkha soldiers serving in the British army.
"Besharam! Such an impertinence," said Mr. Singh, with a big sigh.
The train came and Mr. Singh hugged Mr. Rana, who entered the compartment, waved at a smiling Mr. Singh with his family, and in their thoughts they were already in Katmandu, where things were uncertain and a Maoist republic awaited them, with hikes in prices of basic commodities, political instability. Nepal seemed to be disintegrating because there was no unifying figure. The people in Nepal’s southern Terai were demanding a separate state and recognition of Hindi as the language of the Madhisays, and some had even suggested that the Terai, Nepal’s Corn Chamber, should become a state of the Indian Union. Perhaps that’s how a democratic republic functioned in the early stages.
Mr. Rana felt a terrible feeling of nausea sweeping over him when he thought about the forthcoming trip to his second homeland Darjeeling. Those grabbing Bengali customs officers who were out to rob the Gurkhas by pretending to demand taxes for foreign luxury items. Even gadgets that one used daily like hair-dryers, electric shavers, kitchen appliances were ‘taxed’ without receipts, which meant the money wandered into the pockets of the Bengali customs officers, and the Indian, or for that matter the Bengal government received nothing from this border-income. That was how it functioned.
As in the late eighties, there was the danger of a Gorkhaland civil war because a lot of problems were still unsolved. The Gorkhalis were divided now, and Subhas Ghising’s work with his Hill Council was being challenged. Bimal Gurung was gaining in profile. Jyoti Basu’s communist government was, as usual, using political delay tactics when it came to Gorkhaland issues. Where was it better? To live in strife-torn Gorkhaland or in Nepal, a republic run by a Maoist leader? Mr. Rana and his wife had to decide fast.
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Commentary on Johnny Gurkhas and British Tommies:
Unspoken Barriers and the Need For a Deeper Cultural Change (Satis Shroff)
There is no major transformation in the workplace of the Gurkhas, and the pay gap still remains, even though the Gurkhas are an integral part of the British Army. Discrimination still exists between the officers and the Gurkhas, between the British government and the soldiers Gurkha Brigades. Whereas a Johnny Gurkha gets £46 per month during service, a British Tommie gets £450.
What the government ought to introduce, and the public ought to fight for, is a Gurkha Discrimination Act during or in the next legislative period. On March 2, 2008 the 30th anniversary of the Wilson government’s Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Opportunities Commission was introduced in Britain. Harassment of the Gurkhas by some of their sadistic officers should be made a form of discrimination and the officers court marshalled or brought to justice.
The Labour introduced the Equal Pay Act in 1970. The equal pay was for all British subjects, but not for the British Gurkhas. The Nepalese serving in the Brigade of Gurkhas in England might not be British subjects, but if they are an integral part of the British Army, then they should also be given the same pay. It might be mentioned that not only the Gurkhas but also the British women part-time workers earn 40% less per hour than full-time British men.
The Gurkhas are full-time professional soldiers. But as far as the dictates of Her Majesty’s Ministry of Defence is concerned, all soldiers of Britain are equal but some soldiers are still more equal than the others. What would George Orwell of ‘Animal Farm’ fame say to that?
The Gurkhas are employed primarily in the public sector as regular soldiers recruited in Nepal, and to some extent in the private sector as trusted and efficient security guards. The British have recruited even Nepalese women for a female version of the Gurkhas, and they do their military duties in the Emirates, of course, for the business delights of the British government.
Protection against discrimination is important, and it does not suffice just to write about the flavour of the extraordinary relationship which existed, and still exists, between the British officer and the Gurkha soldier. After all, the brave Gurkhas have fought under the Union Jack in France, Gallipoli, Suez and Mesopotamia in the World War I, and in Singapore, Italy and North Africa in the World War II. In the post World War era, the Gurkhas have worked in the Falkland War, Kosovo, Croatia and Iraq.
The Gurkha-problem has to be solved and the Gurkhas given equal rights, and the choice to stay on in Britain if they choose, after they are pensioned from their Army service. The Gurkha children should be allowed to attend normal British schools and do their GCSEs, A-levels, go to British universities and enter into the professions, just as any British subject. Gurkhas born in the United Kingdom and its overseas territories should be automatically granted British citizenship—without coffing up excuses about outdated British-Nepalese treaties and agreements. The soldiers in the French Foreign Legion are previliged and respected in the French society but the Gurkhas are declared persona non grata in England and the society once they develop gerontological problems and refused medical treatment by the NHS in Britain.
On the issue of the Gurkhas during the partition of Hindustan into India and Pakistan in 1947, the British General Tuker said: “Our own British fault. We had hopelessly mishandled the whole business.” The Gurkha Army Ex-servicemen’s Organization (GAESO) has been demanding rights for the Gurkhas for almost 15 years. Previously, the British Army had a pension plan for Gurkhas in which they received only one-sixth of what British soldiers got under the AFP. In order to qualify for that inferior pension plan, a Gurkha needed to serve for 15 years, while a British Tommie could be eligible for the AFP program after just two years in service.
While the recent review ensures pension parity for future Gurkha recruits, the cut-off date effectively leaves out nearly 40,000 living Gurkhas who retired before 1997, many of whom live in poverty in Nepal. The British social organisations and the government don’t care about the fate of the old pensioned Gurkhas because the government can recruit any number of cannon-fodder in the hills of Nepal. The Brits have only to beckon and the prospective Gurkhas come streaming down from the hills to be recruited for the Gurkha Brigade and a trip to England, and where ever the British are engaged in a skirmish around the globe.
The mishandling of the Gurkha-business can now be corrected and the Johnny Gurkhas given their due in terms of equal salary, respect, tolerance and chances in the British society—much like the British Tommies. When you come to think of the 6,500 decorations to Gurkhas for their bravery and loyalty, including 13 Victoria Crosses and two George Cross medals, and the 45,000 Gurkha deaths in battle during Britain’s wars since 1816 till now. An additional 150,000 were injured, according to an eight-member independent international commission that visited Nepal in May 2005.
A nation has to go with the times.
Quo vadis, United Kingdom?
Tags: ayo, british, european, friends, gurkhali, gurkhas, human, johnny, loyal, pay
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