Nepal's thwarted heroes

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The current British government says it is the first to improve the rights of Gurkhas and has plenty to be proud of but campaigners and veterans are hoping the current hearing in the high court will lead to the abolition of the 1997 clauses.

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If the "bravest of the brave", as the Gurkhas have been called, do not win their case, they're not about to give up.

"I've got Gurkhas telling me they want to go on hunger strike, and I mean hunger strike to the death," Peter Carroll says. "I'm urging them not to do that yet, but I fear that we will see these very honourable decent people pushed to the absolute limit."

Martin Howe says: "We are a morally bankrupt country if we are prepared to ask men to go out and lay their lives down in defence of the country, but then say, 'You're good enough to die for us, but you’re not good enough to come and live amongst us.'"

A Gurkha memorial in central London bears the message "Never had country more faithful friends than you," – a friendship many veterans feel has has proved to be a one-way street.

Ironically the memorial stands right outside the defence ministry and was unveiled in 1997, the very year that would create such grievances between Gurkha veterans and the government of the country they fought for.