Shaindra Thapa hasn’t forgotten the day she heard the news of her husband’s passing in 1990 in a distant foreign land. Her husband, Shankar Thapa, was a British Gurkha soldier, an honourable calling for a Nepali, in the 1990s.
Shankar’s death had left Shaindra a widow and their six-month-old son without a father. Deprived of the means of living, Shaindra was solely dependent on her husband’s pension to sustain herself and her child.
“My husband was a proud Gurkha soldier. He fought in several wars for the British,” said the 54-year-old. “But when it came to compensating his family for the irreparable loss, the UK government fell short.”
Shaindra recalls receiving a mere £11 as her husband’s three months’ pension. The first pension she had received after his death. “I was entitled to a full pension but what they handed me was an unfair amount.”
Despite the unfairness meted out to her and her son, Shaindra decided to come to the UK seeking better opportunities for her son.
“But I didn’t have the money for him to complete his studies. Our only source of income was my husband’s pension which was not enough to make our ends meet,” she said. “I soon started working odd jobs to take care of my son.”
In 1947, India, Nepal, and Britain signed a tripartite agreement which concerned the rights of Gurkhas recruited in the military services of India and Britain. The agreement stated that these Gurkhas would receive equal welfare facilities and pensions as British and Indian citizens.
The Indian government issues pensions to Gurkha veterans with adherence to the tripartite agreement but campaigners claim the British government failed to keep its promise about equal pay and equal welfare benefits to the Gurkha veterans.
Retired Major Jud Bahadur Gurung, spokesperson of the British Gurkha Satyagraha United Struggle Committee, decries the British government’s apathy towards Gurkha veterans.
“Their promises seem hollow. They say they acknowledge our sacrifices in the wars but when it’s time to deliver on their promises they fail to do so,” said Gurung.
“On our first day as Gurkha soldiers, our British officers ordered us to say that we would be better than British soldiers and fight better than them,” he said, adding, “so we wore the same uniform as British soldiers; we ate the same ration [food], we went to the same battlefield so why do we not receive the same benefits as British soldiers?”
Gurkhas are Nepali-born soldiers who were recruited by the British army starting 1815 and they have fought two world wars as well as served in countries like Hong Kong, Iraq, and Afghanistan, among others.
The Ministry of Defence in London said that the Gurkha Pension Scheme was based on the Indian Army model and provided an immediate pension at Indian Army rates to those with at least 15 years of service, but Gurkha veterans accuse the British government of making them redundant and not providing them the due compensation.
“Our soldiers were made redundant by the government. They were sent back home even when they did not want to, so seeking compensation is only fair,” said Gurung.
All ex-British Gurkhas who joined the British Army between January 1 and September 30, 1993, have been campaigning demanding justice and equality for the past 30 years, based on the British and human rights laws.
In 2009 with the help of British actress Joanna Lumley, Gurkhas who retired before 1997 won the right to settle in the UK. But even so, the campaigners wanted more than just settlement rights. They demanded equal pensions and welfare benefits for Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997.
The UK government, however, rejected the offer following which in 2013 and 2021, ex-Gurkhas staged hunger strikes that lasted for 15 and 13 days, respectively. Succeeding the hunger strikes, the British government agreed to hold talks. However, the campaigners are frustrated as the talks were either dismissed or delayed due to changes in the UK government.
“They have been delaying the talks. They are not taking us seriously and we are getting frustrated,” said Gurung. “If we continue to be dismissed this way, we will have no option but to stage hunger strikes again.”
Gyanraj Rai, 64, from Reading, is among those who took part in the hunger strikes both times in 2013 and 2021. He says initially he did not realise that the Gurkha veterans were receiving the short end of the stick, but soon he realised the naivety of the Gurkhas.
“Speaking to other veterans made me realise that we were naive. We say yes to everything,” said Rai. “Finally we are beginning to question the mistreatment and injustice,” he said.
Recalling a particular episode that piqued his curiosity and cleared his doubts, Rai said, “My colleagues from Britain and Hong Kong and I had gathered at an army pub for a pint. A British national serving in the army mentioned that he will retire with £855 per month as his pension and £61,000 as a lump sum while the Chinese friend from Hong Kong said that he is not although he does not qualify for a pension, he will receive £220,000 as a lump sum and he can reside in the UK.”
“I didn’t know what to say because I felt ashamed to say that I was promised £47 per month as my pension, £4000 as a lump sum money and that I had no rights to live in the UK,” said Rai. “That was an eye-opening moment for me and I knew I had to speak up,” he said.
Rai has been campaigning for Gurkha rights for the last 26 years. He says that although he has participated in several talks between the British government and Gurkha veterans, he is not optimistic about the next set of talks to be held in September 2023.
“The British authorities are good at making false promises to Gurkha veterans,” he said. “They tell us to accept the current pension since the amount is more than what a Nepali minister receives which is not true.”
In 2021, Gurkha veterans raised placards and banners while chanting slogans like ‘Aayo Gorkhali’, opposite Downing Street. Dressed in their army regalia, some of the Gurkha veterans participating in the protest were old and infirm but continued to raise their voices demanding fairness and equality for 13 consecutive days.
Premila Tamang, founder of Gurkha Equal Rights, a campaign group, first went to the 2021 protest site unaware of what it was all about. She says she became a different person after spending a day with the protesting Gurkha veterans who shared their stories of hardships.
“The Gurkha veterans deserve equal rights. Theirs is a story of hardships, resilience and sacrifices. If only people knew about their struggle, the support for their cause would be massive,” said Tamang.
Tamang believes that Gurkhas are capable of holding bigger rallies and protests to be heard widely by both the public and the British government, but they are holding back for the respect they carry for the British government.
“These hunger strikes are not even protests, these are more like symbolic marches,” she said. “The Gurkha community is equipped to take the protests to the next level.”
“We greatly value the huge contribution Gurkhas make to the British Army and ensure they are supported with a generous pension and medical care during retirement in Nepal” reads a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence in 2021.
Rai hopes that one day they will respect Gurkha’s contribution to the country and that Britain will acknowledge the sacrifices his countrymen made for this country. “But for now, I will fight against injustice. This campaign took 26 years of my life and I will willingly sacrifice the rest of it for justice and equality,” he said.
