Gurkhas: Let’s right a great wrong

They successfully overturned immigration rules which gave them no automatic right to stay in the UK if they retired from the British Army before 1997.[>

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Actress Joanna Lumley – who had threatened to hand in her British citizenship if the Gurkhas lost – said the victory was “utterly thrilling”.[>

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Ms Lumley, 62, whose late father Major James Rutherford Lumley served alongside the Nepalese soldiers in Burma during the Second World War, rallied supporters on the steps of the High Court.[>

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In emotional scenes, she fought to be heard over a background of three cheers from a throng of supporters, shouting above the sound of bagpipes.[>

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She told the crowd: “My father would be so proud today. This day gives our country a chance to right a great wrong and wipe out something that has shamed us all.[>

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“It was like the most longed-for thunderbolt and when it came it was utterly, utterly thrilling.[>

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“We prayed and right seemed to be on our side and hopefully the law was. By golly was it!”[>

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Yesterday’s ruling – also a triumph for the Daily Express which has led the crusade for Gurkha rights – paves the way for thousands more retired Nepalese soldiers to stay in Britain.[>

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The court hearing arose following a test case by five ex-Gurkhas representing 2,000 soldiers whose applications to stay in Britain had been rejected. Immigration officials have three months to deal with their cases.[>

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It is an embarrassing defeat for the Government, whose lawyers had argued that the Gurkhas lacked “strong ties” with Britain.[>

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In fact, almost 50,000 Gurkhas died fighting for Britain in Malaya, the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan, winning a total of 13 Victoria Crosses.[>

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All other foreign soldiers in the Army have a right to settle here after four years of service anywhere in the world. Seven Gurkha heroes who had appealed the ruling died in the long wait for justice.[>

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Ms Lumley, who posed for photographs with veterans including the Gurkha who saved her father’s life as they faced Japanese machine guns in Burma, vowed to carry on fighting, saying: “The battle is not over, it can disappear into Government corridors.[>

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“There are two things people should do. The first is write to their MP.[>

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“The second is to join the website gurkhajustice.org.uk.[>

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“We are trying to get a million more signatures and show the people of this country our 100 per cent behind the Gurkhas’ right to live in this country.”[>

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The veterans’ lawyers said the country owed a “special debt” of gratitude for their bravery in virtually every conflict in recent British history.[>

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Judge Justice Blake agreed, then ruled that instructions given by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith were unlawful. In a statement, Ms Smith said: “In light of the court’s ruling we will revise and publish new guidance.[>

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“We will honour our commitment to the Gurkhas by reviewing all cases by the end of the year.”[>

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The ruling may now generate further applications from the 40,000 Gurkhas discharged before 1997.[>

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Daily Express columnist and Tory  MP Ann Widdecombe, also a campaigner, said justice had been done.[>

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But she added: “The Government should be ashamed that it has taken a court case to make it see what so many have been telling them for so long – that to deny VCs entry just because of an arbitrary discharge was both ludicrous and inequitable.”[>

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The five ex-Gurkhas were Lance Corporal Gyanendra Rai, Deo Prakash Limbu, Corporal Chakra Limbu, Lance Corporal Birendra Shrestha and Bhim Gurung. VC holders Lachhiman Gurung, 91, and Tul Bahadur Pun, 86 were at the court yesterday. Mr Pun was the brave man who saved Ms Lumley’s father in 1944.[>

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Mahendra Rai, 51, general secretary of the Gurkha’s ex-servicemen organisation, said with tears rolling down his cheek: “We are so happy we are very, very happy and very grateful. I am so proud, I am just overcome.[>

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“Thank you to the Daily Express, for your support, and to your readers.”[>