November 21, 2008	Friday	Ziqa'ad 22, 1429

LONDON, Nov 20: Hundreds of Gurkha veterans rallied outside Britain's Houses of Parliament on Thursday and were due to hand in a petition at Downing Street seeking the right to settle here.

The rally was led by Tul Bahadur Pun and Lachiman Gurung, two Nepalese ex-soldiers who have won the British Army's highest honour for valour, the Victoria Cross.

They were joined by British actress Joanna Lumley, the star of television series “Absolutely Fabulous” who has campaigned hard for the law to be changed to allow Gurkha soldiers residency, and several lawmakers who support the move.

Almost 250,000 people in the last six weeks have signed a petition saying all Gurkha veterans should be allowed to settle in Britain. It will be handed in to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street office after the rally.

“There is a feeling that such an injustice has been done by successive governments to the fine soldiers that it has to end,” said Lumley, whose British Army officer father served with Gurkhas in World War II.

“This has spread a stain on our country that once the public got to know about it, they feel it to be intolerable.” At the moment, only Gurkha soldiers who retired after 1997 — when their base was moved from Hong Kong to Britain — have the automatic right to stay permanently.

But in September, the High Court in London ruled in favour of extending that right to all Gurkha veterans following a test case. All other foreign soldiers in the British Army can settle in Britain after four years' service.

Brown said last week that the government would be publishing new guidance on the issue “in the near future” following the High Court's ruling.

Around 3,500 Gurkhas currently serve in the British Army, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, where two of the Nepalese soldiers have died this month. More than 45,000 in total have died serving Britain.—AFP