16/3/2007

Your Letters

MP should be grateful that we have the Gurkhas

With regard to the article in the News of March 9 — MP tells Gurkha hero ‘you’re ungrateful and in danger of becoming an obsessive’ — Gerald Howarth’s comments remind people why the Conservatives have remained in opposition for the past ten years. Not that the Labour government has much to be proud of.

Anyone who joins the British Army and is prepared to fight for this country deserves to be a British citizen without question. It should be an automatic right bestowed upon someone who is prepared to fight for the people of this country. They are entitled to be treated with the same respect and dignity given to our own soldiers and not treated as second class citizens.

Mr Howarth should make an immediate public apology. Some immigrants to this country are treated better than the Gurkhas and in many cases better than they justly deserve. They do nothing for the benefit of the community and are here purely for the benefits they can gain. If as much energy were to be put into addressing this problem we would all benefit greatly.

I know some of the ex-Gurkhas in Farnborough and am impressed by their hard-working and polite attitude. What, therefore, does Mr Howarth think of men prepared to sacrifice their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, standing alongside our own soldiers and prepared to die for this country?

They are only entitled to a fraction of the wages of a British soldier and a pension less than an OAP gets. What gratitude and respect do we show for such honourable people?

You live in the dark ages, Mr Howarth. This country is going to pot because of the stupid and irresponsible attitudes of those who are supposed to represent us. We are in Iraq and Afghanistan because the Conservatives voted with Tony Blair.

Be grateful that we have people like the Gurkhas to support us. Iraq is costing this country greatly in terms of the National Heath Service, education and other services by the drain on resources to fund a pointless operation which has no chance of success. We should have learned this from Northern Ireland.

Compare that against the cost of giving the Gurkhas what they are entitled to and the credit they deserve. I fully support the claim made by the Gurkhas that they deserve to be treated the same as our own soldiers.

Peter Newman
Giffard Drive
Farnborough

First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail