The Gurkhas have had a very raw deal, and I’m surprised by the way the government is dragging its feet on this one. The government claims that if they allowed all veterans to stay then Britain would be flooded with 100,00 new Gurkha citizens. I seriously doubt this. But, even if they all did decide to come to the UK, then they would deserve it anyway.
Nick Clegg summed it up nicely,
People who are prepared to fight and die for our country should be entitled to live here.
I completely agree with him. If the government isn’t prepared to make good on this entitlement then perhaps they shouldn’t be asking Gurkhas to contribute to Britain’s wars.
The sci-fi film Starship Troopers has brilliant propaganda snippets on this very theme – Service Guarantees Citizenship: Would you like to know more?
A bit of Gurkha background and trivia
- The Gurkhas were initially enemies of the British Army during the Gurkha War.
- After agreeing a peace treaty, the British Army started recruiting them into their own forces.
- The Gurkha motto is, “Better to die than live a coward”.
- The Brigade of Gurkhas have been a part of the British Army for nearly 200 years.
- The brigade recruited a peak of 112,000 men during World War Two.
- Over 43,000 young Gurkha soldiers lost their lives during both World Wars.