The Gurkha hunger strikers have vowed they would return to Westminster if Government pledges to hold talks with the Nepal Embassy didn’t resolve the pension pay gap.
A weary Dhan Gurung, who was hospitalised earlier this week after refusing food for 13 days, cautioned: “I am happy, but it is hard to trust.”
Dhan, 60, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, told The Mirror: “We need to see how it goes or I may have to come back here again.”
Fellow ex-soldier and striker Gyanraj Rai, 63, echoed the same sentiment.
He told the Mirror: “I am happy but I want to see how it goes.”
Alongside them sat tearful Gurkha widow Pushpa Rana Ghale, 59, - now too exhausted to speak.
There were scenes of jubilation, cheers and tears, as the Ministry of Defence delivered a letter to the Downing Street protesters yesterday afternoon.
They vowed to form a committee with the Nepalese government and the British to address the concerns of the Gurkha veterans committee, and pledged to find a “long lasting solution” to Gurkha concerns.
Duan’s wife, Mrs Dev Gurung, said: “I am just so happy he is safe now.”
The couple have been married 30 years, during which time Dev said the poor army pension pay he’d received had left them poverty-stricken and living apart for years, as he travelled to Brunei to get work.
“It has been heartbreaking to see him like this but I am also so, so proud,” she said.
“We will have a big, big celebration with all our family.”
Gyanraj’s sister Naina Rai, 42, said: “I was hoping for some magic to happen and now I am over the moon.
“I keep thinking, ‘am I dreaming? Is this real?’
“It is a great, great relief for us to have my brother back. He is safe now.
“But I was there with my brother in 2013 when he did another hunger strike and the Government didn’t do anything. So we hope for the best.”
She added: “I cannot wait for them to eat something but a meal won’t be possible right now. We may have to start with soup!
“I saw what the last hunger strike did to my brother. The effects left him in ill health back then and I have been so worried but he has been saying to me everyday, ‘just be strong’ and I have had to be that for him because what he has been doing is just so important.”
The group of Nepalese-born soldiers are campaigning for equal pensions for Gurkhas who retired before 1997 and are not eligible for a full armed forces pension.
The Support Our Gurkhas protesters reached their 12th day of not eating today, while demonstrating opposite Downing Street.
