Posted on 11/27/2002 10:17:04 AM PST by Happygal
LONDON (Reuters) - A group of Gurkha soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese in World War II won a major victory over the British government Wednesday as a court ruled they were wrongly excluded from a special compensation payment.
"This judgment is of great importance not only to the three elderly claimants who live in Nepal but also for the 343 other Gurkha POWs who have been denied compensation on racially discriminatory grounds," said their lawyer Phil Shiner.
"It is important also that my clients' service for the British will now be formally acknowledged, and this will give them comfort in their last years," he added.
The Gurkhas are Nepali tribesmen with a reputation as fearsome warriors who have fought and died for the British for nearly 200 years but whose relationship with their former colonial masters has now turned sour.
The High Court judgment will force the government to include the Gurkhas in a payment of $15,510 made two years ago to former British prisoners of war of the Japanese.
To date the government has refused to include the Gurkhas in the payout on the grounds that they were not technically part of the British Army -- a line the Gurkhas took as deeply offensive.
A Ministry of Defense spokeswoman said the government was studying the judgment in detail and had no further comment.
"We are considering an appeal at the moment," she added.
In a trenchant judgment, High Court judge Justice McCombe said the decision to exclude the Gurkhas was racist.
"The Gurkhas were excluded on the basis of a constitutional distinction which was in fact founded upon race," he said in his written verdict.
He also rejected the idea that the test case by three former Gurkhas -- all now in their 80s -- would trigger a flood of applications for compensation by other indigenous groups who fought for the British and were captured by the Japanese.
"The 'floodgates' argument ... is difficult to follow in the light of the facts before the court," he said.
The ruling -- in the first of three discrimination cases by Gurkhas against the British government -- came as welcome relief to claimant Pahalman Gurung who was just 21 when he was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore in 1942. Two other cases coming in February involve charges of discrimination in pay, pensions and conditions for both former and current members of the Gurkhas.
Despite being offered food, clothing and comfort by the Japanese if he changed sides and fought against the British, Gurung and many other captured Gurkhas remained loyal and were starved, beaten and in many cases worked to death.
"I am delighted to have won. I was proud to remain loyal to my British oath in World War II and as a consequence I took severe punishment from the Japanese," he said.
"To be acknowledged for this at my age of 81 is very important to me. It is an issue of principle for me and others that we should be treated equally and recognized for our service to the British," he added.
Love, Ivan
I don't know about that - but it was certainly dishonourable.
The "floodgates" argument seems somewhat silly - the UK government pays billions of pounds a year to anti-British Paki layabouts, but refuses to help those who gave their blood and risked their lives for the UK.
I hope the Ministry sort this out in an honourable fashion. The Gurkha troops should count as part of the British Army and be treated accordingly!
I was sitting in the VA hospital waiting room looking about me at the old , poor and physically decimated veterans of this country that endured even greater risks for injury or worse as I listened to this POS sports idol bitch about such............
Oh well I'd do it again if I had to do it all over. Stay safe and You and that little Irish lass have a great Thanksgiving TP !
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