On Monday 22 November, UK Parliament will finally debate the motion ‘We demand that the Gurkhas receive equal pensions’ at 6PM. To mark this historic moment, former hunger strikers, Gurkha veterans, and supporters will be present outside Parliament from 4PM.
We thank and honour all who supported us and helped sign the petition to bring the debate to Parliament. We thank the family of veterans and the British public. #powerofprotest#UK
At the recent COP26 event, Nepal’s PM Sher Bahadur Deuba met with Defence Minister Ben Wallace to reaffirm the request to hold bilateral diplomatic dialogues between the @DefenceHQ@NepalGov and Gurkha veterans in December to resolve Gurkha grievances. @SherBDeuba@BWallaceMP
In the Monday debate we ask that MPs request the government to address violations of the 1947 Tripartite Agreement between the Nepal, India and the UK where it states that
'the Gurkhas are to be an integral part of the British Army.. to be treated with equal footing'
Gurkha grievances are about equal rights to address historical injustices, not just pensions. Nevertheless, we trust the debate on pensions will help discussions in December. Please write to your MP asap to support the motion. A template can be found at bit.ly/3nCMW5U
“the UK is in the unenviable position of being the only country in Europe still imposing punitive restrictions against Nepal (including unconscionable quarantine charges) – in spite of the much lauded over 200-year-old diplomatic relationship between the two countries.” A thread
BNAC @BritainNepalAC statement extracts : "The puzzling continued inclusion of Nepal on the red list has huge implications for the 100,000 strong Nepali diaspora in Britain, including Gurkha regiments in the British army, who have been separated from loved ones for two years"
"From a scientific perspective, this decision to keep Nepal in the red list is simply inexplicable. It makes no
sense in terms of the government’s own published criteria.." @BorisJohnson@UKinNepal@NicolaPollittUK@grantshapps
"Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had a country more faithful friends than you"Sir Ralph Turner MC. May these words engraved on the memorial of the first Gurkha Victoria Cross winner Kulbir Thapa Magar, ring true to honour the living as much as the dead.
Unveiled on September 25 at Princes Garden, Aldershot, the town also home to the British Army, it was a proud moment for Nepalis in Britain and worldwide.
Commissioned by the Greater Rushmoore Nepalese Community’s Gurkha Memorial Project, this was made possible with many donors predominantly from local Gurkha communities.
Media Watch thread Pt1: Media produced spin about Joanna Lumley from an article by @WalesOnline published online 3:40am. She never contacted any of the hunger strikers or anyone on the Gurkha Satyagraha team (BGSUSC)formally or informally before, during or after the hunger strike
News outlets got carried away with the story without verifying anything with connected with Gurkha Satyagraha or Gurkha organisations. The articles also reported that the hunger strikers belonged to ‘Support Our Gurkhas’, a facebook group run by lovely British public supporters
This article also contains an inaccuracy. Joanna Lumley never once visited the protest site in 2021. She did in 2013 at Gyanraj Rai’s first hunger strike but this is not clear @thehimalayan. Her 'statement' of pleas to Boris Johnson was not published as press releases for media