Lumley delivers Gurkha petition

7:41pm Thursday 20th November 2008

Actress Joanna Lumley has led a rally which called on the Government to pay back a "debt of honour" to Gurkhas.

Around 2,000 veterans and campaigners gathered in London to deliver a petition and to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of those who died serving the British Army.

In the wake of a High Court ruling, the Gurkha Justice Campaign wants new measures to be introduced to give Gurkhas who retired or were discharged from the Army before 1997 the automatic right to settle in the UK.

Currently only Gurkhas who retired or were discharged from the army after July 1, 1997 are eligible to settle here. In September, the High Court ruled that the immigration policy used to exclude pre-1997 retired Gurkhas from the UK was unlawful.

Campaigners said that the Government needed to quickly implement a new policy bringing equality to all Gurkhas. According to the Home Office, all Gurkha cases will be reviewed by the end of the year.

Lumley addressed the crowd in Parliament Square before leading a delegation to Downing Street to hand in the signatures.

The Absolutely Fabulous actress, whose father served with the Sixth Gurkha Rifles, said: "There is a feeling that such an injustice has been done by successive Governments to these fine soldiers that it has to end.

"This has spread a stain on our country that once the public got to know about it, they felt it to be intolerable."

Retired Gurkha Dhan Gurung, who is a British citizen and a town councillor in Folkestone, Kent, led a two-minute silence in memory of the two soldiers.

He said: "This is the proof and truth our two heroes have clearly demonstrated. The Gurkhas always sacrifice their life in the past and in the present for this country."