This is outrageous. The Ghurkas have won more VC’s than any other single regiment in the British Army, and this government doesn’t even have the tossing decency to grant them residence once they have served, on the grounds that they don’t have sufficiently strong ties with the UK to merit a visa. Unbelievable.

The Ghurkas are now based in Stafford, fantastic regiment, none of the drunken squaddie problems you can get from other regiments

the hustler – Member
The Ghurkas are now based in Stafford, fantastic regiment, none of the drunken squaddie problems you can get from other regiments

And Nuneaton, and York, and Catterick..

Yup, the best 3 years I had in the Army was instructing the Ghurkas..

I’m proud to have been allowed to wear their Cpa Badge, and was allowed to wear a Khukri..

I’m quite surprised at that. I actually thought one of the reasons the guys joined the Ghurkas was to gain UK residency. That’s terrible.

I’ve got it, under the Art 47 (c) Geneva Convention if we treated them the same as indiginous troops they would be mercaneries right?? So we’re doing them a favour obviously…….

Frankly its a disgrace in my humble opinion.

Art 47. Mercenaries

1. A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.
2. A mercenary is any person who:
(a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;
(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;
(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;
(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and
(f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.

crikey, even the Motherland, err, France allows foreign legionnaires citizenship (and a new french name if you want it too) after they leave. Mind you, i read somewhere that the with sort and amount of conflict they get sent to, 1 in 10 leaves in a box. 😯

Outrageous not to give these people full uk citizenhip considering the wages and the risk. Is it still the case that they get paid les than regular Army?

Yes, they do get paid less.

well, they did….

Do something about it

Outrageous – perhaps Phil Woolas could explain to Tulbahadur Pun VC just why this “improves the situation” – especially given how said Ghurka improved on the situation sixty odd years ago:

Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun then seized the Bren gun, and firing from the hip as he went, continued the charge on this heavily bunkered position alone, in the face of the most shattering concentration of automatic fire, directed straight at him. With the dawn coming up behind him, he presented a perfect target to the Japanese. He had to move for thirty yards over open ground, ankle deep in mud, though Shell holes and over fallen trees.

Despite these overwhelming odds, he reached the Red House and closed with the Japanese occupants. He killed three and put five more to right and captured tow light machine-guns and much ammunition. He then gave accurate supporting fire from the bunker to the remainder of his platoon which enabled them to reach their objective.

Extract from London Gazette (November 1944)

These men risk making the ulimate sacrifice, for a nation thousands of miles away. They are brave, dedicated, honourable people, and this is how Great Britain treats them

What is most insulting is the context in which this is happening.

Millions of undesirables, many of which are fundamentaly against our way of life have flooded our boarders and are simply keeping their heads down until our wonderful leaders give them all an amnesty to stay for good.

For some reason Gurkers are given less respect and this upsets me deeply.

Any Gurkha, old and young, serving or retired, should have an automatic right to settle themselves and their immediate family in the UK

This is the very definiton of the term insulting

My grand-father was a Chindit and served alongside the Gurkhas in the far-east, “a more loyal British solider there never was” was his opinion of them and my limited experience of working alongside them during my time in the military left me with nothing but respect (and a taste for Gurkha curries, rooster feet and all).

It is terrible how the Gurkhas have been treated over the years, loyal, hard-working and willing to lay down their lives for our country yet treated so poorly when compared to so many others who inhabit these fair isles.

Millions of undesirables, many of which are fundamentaly against our way of life have flooded our boarders and are simply keeping their heads down until our wonderful leaders give them all an amnesty to stay for good.

Jebus. I despair.

Outrageous!

and this government doesn’t even have the tossing decency to grant them residence

Have previous governments granted residencey but NuLab have taken it away ? Or are you just using the Ghurkas to have a pop.

The language may be a little right-wing and the tone a bit too Alf Garnet but ‘enfht’ isn’t shooting too far wide.

The comparison drawn between loyal, hard-working people who are willing to lay down their lives for this country and some people who take what they can from this country and offer it little in return is quite a easy one to draw. Of course the latter type of parasite need not be born of foreign shores, we have plenty of home-grown parasites we could use for comparative purposes before jumping aboard the Daily Mail Express.

To be fair, Labour have had 12 years to fix it since the tories last had the chance. If they cared it would have been sorted by now.

Millions of undesirables

surely this is a joke?

surely?

…looks like it was cut and pasted from the nonsense leaflets from the BNP.

It shouldn’t be about the rights of others to stay here in relation to the Gurkhas. Their issue should and can stand on its own 2 feet.

Makes me sick. Absolute disgrace.

Millions of undesirables, many of which are fundamentaly against our way of life have flooded our boarders

Would sir like a zeig heil with that ?

Honour, pride and dignity for the Gurkhas but shame on the govt that cowardly deny them of all.

trailmonkey – Member

and this government doesn’t even have the tossing decency to grant them residence

Have previous governments granted residencey but NuLab have taken it away ? Or are you just using the Ghurkas to have a pop.

Please. As atlaz said, this government is in power, and has the ability to sort this out. But it hasn’t, and clearly has no intention of doing so.

And can we not hijack the thread with posts about immigration policy as a whole? This has nothing to do with what the Ghurka’s want and deserve, so leave it out.

Well said Flashman.

To the government of any nation, once “service” personnel have been used they are forgotten about, simple as that. They then become just an annoying figure on an accountant’s spreadsheet. It’s always been that way, nothing will change.

its a penny pinching decision, Ghurka pensions are less than the rest of the armies, if they are allowed residency the case would be strong for pension equivilence.

Its a poor decision made for the wrong reasons

the criterea for Joe Bloggs non-EU immigrant is far less onerous

What’s to dispair Andyp exactly, the situation or me pointing it out?

If it’s the latter then please correct the part of that statement which you feel is incorrect?

Does “dispair” mean putting your hands over your eyes and sitting in a room with no windows?

Bit more from the times about the details of how the gvnt managed to get around the issue:

“They have set criteria that are unattainable. They require a Gurkha to serve for 20 years [to get residency] – but a rifleman is only permitted to serve for 15 years.

“It’s a sham and an absolute disgrace. It’s far more restrictive than the old policy.”

And the old policy was illegal, according the High Courts.

What’s to dispair Andyp exactly, the situation or me pointing it out?

If it’s the latter then please correct the part of that statement which you feel is incorrect?

Does “dispair” mean putting your hands over your eyes and sitting in a room with no windows?

You, and your attitude. The situation you mention doesn’t exist, apart from within the confines of your (seemingly) twisted mind.

Oh, and it is ‘despair’.
A room with no windows? Sounds like your dream for the ‘millions of undesirables’. And perhaps somewhere to add the Zyklon B crystals?

Daily mail anyone?

And can we not hijack the thread with posts about immigration policy as a whole? This has nothing to do with what the Ghurka’s want and deserve, so leave it out.

Children, I refer you to my previous advice. If you want to have an argument about immigration, start your own thread. This one is about Ghurkas if you hadn’t already noticed.

They require a Gurkha to serve for 20 years [to get residency] – but a rifleman is only permitted to serve for 15 years.

It’s the doublespeak that’s so galling – much like the fcuktard stance that winning a VC does not demonstrate “sufficient” connection to this country (see earlier court cases).

But as sofatester says, it’s nothing new under the sun. We made colonial allies of the Ghurkas for expediency’s sake (i.e. they were such an incredible foe). And then we screw them over for much the same reason.

The Gurkas should be made citizens and given the same rights as any other British soldier.

They are the bravest of the brave and we should all be grateful to them.

If only that was the reality TJ.

AndyP who the f*ck do you think you’re speaking to? You obviously don’t think I’m jewish otherwise you wouldn’t dare spewing your knee-jerk hatred.

This situation does exist you idiot, you just choose to ignore it. You’re welcome to repeat what you just said to my face and I’ll gladly respond in kind. I live in Enfield North London..

You’re an asshole

enfit – what situation exists? There are not

Millions of undesirables, many of which are fundamentaly against our way of life have flooded our boarders and are simply keeping their heads down until our wonderful leaders give them all an amnesty to stay for good.

except in the fevered imaginations of the Daily Mail and Express

Nasty bigoted thinly disguised racist claptrap

wrong

So anyway, Gurhas. Spent quite a bit of time training with them when they were based in Church Crookham. Impeccable and professional, always.
What is wrong with the t0ssers who run this country that they so out of step with pretty much every single voter.

Even the French offer legionnaires citizenship and a new identity after 5 years service – that said, the French use the Legion for all their dodgy missions/peacekeeper roles to reduce the number of French born casualties, but they seem to have some sense of “honeur” in the end.

Absolute disgrace, they do and have done more for upholding the rights and security of this country than most of the people born here will ever do (myself includeed and most likely a good majority of you on here) and this is how we treat them.

Last house in Brecon was opposite quite a few Gurkha families and they make some cracking curries.

On the political side, I’m quite up for one in one out, kicking out mincers in favour of foreigners who wish to contribute.

AndyP who the f*ck do you think you’re speaking to? You obviously don’t think I’m jewish otherwise you wouldn’t dare spewing your knee-jerk hatred.

Why don’t you go back where you belong then. Your type aren’t welcome round here.

Shame this got hijacked into a load of NF shite.

What is happening to the Gurkhas is wrong, a total injustice.