A GRAVE wrong, which shames successive governments, will at last be righted after a decision yesterday that denying Gurkha veterans the right to settle in Britain was unlawful.
Almost 2,000 Nepalese warriors have been denied permission to settle in the country for which they fought loyally and bravely because of a ruling that those who retired before the Gurkha base was moved from Hong Kong to the UK in 1997 did not have sufficiently strong ties to live here.
If laying down their lives for Britain does not constitute a strong tie, it is difficult to imagine what does. Even following yesterday’s landmark ruling in the High Court test case brought by six Gurkha veterans, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was insisting that the 1997 cut-off was fair. The truth is it has never been fair and has now been officially declared unlawful, irrational and ambiguous.
The Gurkhas are revered by their fellow soldiers and feared by their enemies, and Britain should have been laying down the welcome mat to them in gratitude.
Instead, they have been treated disgracefully and forced to beg for every concession from a country which owes them an awful lot more than they seek.
SOURCE
Tarn Lass
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