Gurkhas win right to citizenship

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040930/325/f3mqy.html


LONDON (Reuters) - Gurkhas, who have served with the British army for nearly 200 years, have won a landmark battle to be able to settle in Britain and gain citizenship.

The decision on Thursday followed an 18-month government review of the status of the soldiers, recruited in Nepal and feared for their lethal trademark khukri knives.

Campaigners hailed the move as a step towards the Gurkhas' long-running demands for equality in pay and conditions with their British army counterparts.

"The Gurkhas have served this country with great skill, courage and dignity during some of the most testing times in our history," said Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"They have made an enormous contribution not just to our armed forces but to the life of this country, and it is important their commitment and sacrifice is recognised," he added.

The new right to settle is restricted to those who left the British army after July 1, 1997, when the Gurkhas were rebased from Hong Kong to Britain.

The Home Office estimates 230 Nepalese soldiers and around 800 dependants will now settle in Britain each year.

Phil Shiner, a human rights lawyer acting for the Gurkha Army Ex-servicemen's Organisation, welcomed the change in immigration rules.

But said he would be writing to the government to demand an end to all discrimination against the Nepalese soldiers.

He said that despite the latest changes, they would remain on poorer terms and conditions than their fellow British soldiers.

Shiner led a failed High Court appeal in 2003 to win the Gurkhas equal pay and pensions.

"We lost in 2003 for one reason only. The Court of Appeal felt you could discriminate and pay Gurkhas less because the cost of living in Nepal is cheaper than here," Shiner said.

"Once you remove that -- which the government announcement does -- there can be no continuing justification for all the discriminations."

Gurkhas receive reduced pay while on leave in Nepal, have fewer rights to live with their families on service and get only around a sixth of the pension awarded their British army colleagues.

The Gurkhas have served in the British army since 1815 when a peace agreement was clinched by the British East India Company after it suffered heavy casualties during an invasion of Nepal.

From a peak of 112,000 men in World War Two, their numbers have dwindled to about 3,400.