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British Gurkha Win's Yet Another Battle

by salik | June 2, 2007 at 07:30 pm | 898 views | add comment

Now finally, an old man's struggle to get visa to enter Britain has materialized after British media took up his cause and forced the government to reverse its decisions. It must be noted that several hundreds of other British-Gurkha ex-soldiers are still struggling to get visas to stay at UK. They have demonstrated a number of times aginst the inequality in pensions and retirement benefits as well as the 'injustice'. Tul Bahadur Pun's case might be different- it might show to the people that without the popular support and proper understanding of their plights among the British people, their attempts to enter UK would be futile.

Gurkha hero wins British visa battle

Agence France Presse

London, June 2:

Britain’s Home Office said yesterday it has reversed its decision to deny a visa to a veteran Nepali Gurkha soldier who won Britain’s highest military honour for valour.

Fighting for the British Army, Tul Bahadar Pun, 84, won the Victoria Cross in the Second World War for single-handedly storming Japanese machine-gun positions. He wanted to come to Britain for medical treatment which is difficult to access from his remote hut in Nepal.

The Home Office originally declined him a settlement visa, telling him: “You have failed to demonstrate that you have strong ties with the UK.”

“The circumstances surrounding Tul Bahadur Pun’s case are clearly exceptional and in light of this Home Secretary John Reid and I have reviewed the case and made the decision to grant Mr Pun a settlement visa immediately,” Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said.

Pun has heart problems, asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure and requires daily medication which is not always available in Nepal.

His bravery won him an invitation to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953 and he had tea with her mother, queen Elizabeth. Retired Gurkha soldiers staged a mass protest in London in March over Britain’s refusal to give them full pensions and other rights here.