The British Gurkha Welfare Society (BGWS) said on Sunday that it would start a fresh legal battle to ensure parity in terms of perk and facilities with their British counterparts, local website ekantipur.com reported Monday.

The BGWS, which has been launching protests against the British government demanding for equal pensions to all ex-servicemen, said that it was planning to file a petition at the United Kingdom (UK) court within the next three months demanding that the British government revoke its decision to provide pensions to only those who retire from their services after July 1, 1997.

"We urge the British government to review its discriminatory decision," Tikendra Dal Dewan, chairman of the BGWS, told a press conference in Kathmandu on Sunday.

He said that the Society would move to the European court if the British court lends a deaf ear to their demands.

"Distribution of equal pensions to all ex-Gurkha servicemen and their settlement rights are some of our major demands with the UK government," said Dewan, adding, "The cut off date -- July 1, 1997 -- the day when Britain returned Hong Kong to China and took back its (UK's) Army brigade home, is baseless. Wherever our regiments were stationed before or after the date, we were providing our services to the British force."

He also urged the Nepali Government to provide a dual citizenship to ex-Gurkha servicemen who have been granted British citizenship. "The leaders of the eight parties during our recent meeting had pledged to put pressure on the government to help grant dual citizenship to us."

Dewan also informed that the British government had accepted the BGWS's demands of recruiting Nepali women in the UK Army. "The women will be recruited as clerks and cooks."

Former British Gurkhas in late March wrote a letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair demanding service perks and benefits equivalent to those given to their British counterparts. They also staged a protest demonstration in front of the UK Ministry of Defense building.

Stating that the British government's decision to give full British Army pensions only to those Gurkhas who retired after July 1, 1997 was injustice to 22,000 other Gurkhas who had retired earlier, the former Gurkhas have demanded that the British government correct its decision.

Earlier, on March 8, the British Parliament had decided that Gurkhas, who had retired after 1997, would finally get full British Army pensions, nearly 200 years after they started fighting for the United Kingdom.

Source: Xinhua