Goodbye Prince Harry. Do remember the Gurkhas please!
Gopal Chintan –
Goodbye Prince Harry.
You have already received enough welcomes during your stay here in Nepal, the country of your Gurkha soldiers!
You have extolled, that too many a times, the bravery of the Gurkhas and natural beauty of Nepal. As the most special tourist to have come to Nepal after the quake and the the killer Indian blockade, your presence has truly inspired travelers and Nepal lovers around the world to come to Nepal again.
You seem to be different and special. When you lost your mother, the whole world saw your in tears. You are following in the footsteps of your charitable mom. Your being with the Gurkhas in the battlefield must have had been a matter of joy, in contrast to that of the sorrow inflicted upon those whom you successfully “destroyed” or “killed” for no legitimate reason!
And this visit must have been one of the most fulfilling ones in your life. You are in the most beautiful land of the brave Gurkhas and their families! Everywhere you went, you brought the mood of celebration. After your visits to the retired Gurkhas and their families, there seems to be nothing left to show you.
But I am daring here to treat you not only as a royal tourist but also an influential figure in the British establishment. Nepal needs your influence desperately. When I say Nepal, I am referring to your bravest of the brave fighters. I say that they are suffering because it never was their (or our) desire to join any foreign army and shed blood.
I remember the time when then British Prime Minister told late Tul Bahadur Pun VC at 10 Downing Street, “Thank you for fighting for world peace”!
I was puzzled to hear that when our meeting with him was to talk about ending the Gurkha inequality. The Gurkhas never fought for ‘world peace’. They fought the World Wars, and that too for the British Empire. They had first been taken in as mercenaries. Since 1947, they have been serving the British Army as ‘loyal servants’ ( read ‘modern day slaves’) . It would be unjust to hold just the British crown responsible for this. The rulers of Nepal are also culpable.
Anyway! We need you and your support at this last juncture of the Gurkhas’ decades-long struggle for equality in country. The way the Gurkhas have been mistreated in history goes against all the rules of humanity, human dignity, morality, non-discrimination, equality and human rights.
Harry Khukuri
The British Army Generals could easily face war crimes charges if all their past acts, means and methods of war are to be taken to The Hague. But we all know that would not be possible today as recent crimes committed by the Britishers and Americans in Afghanistan and the Middle East are not even being investigated. It would be better leave this matter here.
To your respect, these brave Gurkhas of yours (and of course India too) are not the from any high class or caste. They are the most marginalised and mistreated people in history. They lived in the most difficult of lives in the hills with no food to eat, and no hospitals to go to for treatment .
The smart Britishers found them. Their lifetime muscle training and hunting and gathering skills were exactly what they were looking for in their soldiers. That is why I say that your own British soldiers who trained in sophisticated playgrounds are only “brave.” But the Gurkhas are the “bravest of the brave.”
But this bravery has not come for nothing. It has cost this country and its people a fortune.
Left joined the army, not to show off their bravery, but to escape poverty. Every single house of theirs had been looted and their wives and daughters kidnapped or raped by local landlords who ceased their land and property for unpaid debts. They left because they did not see any hope in their own homeland and motherland.
They left because they did not have any alternatives to survive. Otherwise, how could only these adivasis and janajatis make it to the British Army as the marshal class? It was always clear that this job was not ‘open’ for those from the high, educated and ‘smart’ Brahmins and Chhetris.
Fine! The past is past!
But all the injustices can never be undone. We could forgive Britain if it were a poor country like Nepal, but it can, and you can do so much. The Gurkhas revolted against their own government by taking the advantage of democratic openness in the 1990s. The issue was taken up by Parliament while issuing a detailed report to the government for ending the Gurkhas’ sufferings. But sadly, the Nepal government never took up this issue to resolve it once and for all officially.
It was only when this author took the case to the British Court, the public and the Parliament some 16 years back that the Gurkahs won several rights. But what is at core of the inequality: the issue of equal pension has not been resolved even after the Gurkhas landed in your country as permanent residents.
Respected Prince Harry,
This pension issue is at the core of all Gurkhas’ claims. So what would a citizen of the this country that supplied and sacrificed millions of its citizens want from you?
Friendship?
Not at all. Friendship can and should always be reciprocated. We can only be true friends when the Gurkhas get the same pension the Britishers get. Friendship can never be bloody, unequal and for war.
These retired Gurkahs and their families are now forced to live in Britain for nothing. The only attraction is the pension credit and social services allowance they receive. But they are forced to live in flats like broiler chicks. They have neither any culture nor a community. They clean toilets, carry load in warehouses and serve food at chain restaurants.
For the ordinary Nepaleis back home, they live in the UK. But for themselves, they live in misery of a different kind. This is what they never wanted.
Dear Prince Harry!
We like you very much and we love you so much because you were orphaned too. You are just like us and why not so!
But please help these Gurkha brothers and sisters come back home. Let their children stay, but allow their old parents to return. They are a huge economic and social burden for you . They are the ones who can rebuild the earthquake-devastated Gurkha communities.
Let them live here happily with the pension they deserve.
The government policy can also be changed and the pension laws can always be amended. It is simply not a big deal for “Great” Britain. It is only then we can feel that some justice has been done to the bravest of the brave.
Good Bye Prince Harry.
Please go home with new energy and a new agenda on your mind!
Deeds count more than words. Now it is your turn to continue what Joanna started.
Let the Gurkha do something for their own country, the people and the community. They deserve equal treatment and equal dignity first.
(Chintan is a Gurkha rights lawyer and campaigner)
