GURKHA veterans in Reading have renewed calls to honour the heroes among their ranks - exactly three months after launching their campaign.

Veterans, politicians, and neighbours got together in Cumberland Road in east Reading on Wednesday last week, the halfway point of the united Gurkha Satyagraha campaign, to boost their fight for equal pensions.

Campaign director, Gyanraj Rai, a Reading bus driver, said: "We deliberately chose today as it has been exactly three months since the campaign began.

"The bitter truth is Gurkhas have been glaringly discriminated against for the past two centuries; therefore, we, under no circumstances, can accept or internalise the misconception of the British governments. We will keep organising interactions and mass meetings at different places until the deadline in October."

Gurkhas across the country marched in Parliament Square in London in April to demand equal pensions, compensation for years of neglect, equal pensions for their widows, the right to stay in Britain for their adult children, and access to free medical treatment for Gurkhas who have retired in Nepal. If the Government fails to meet their calls by October, they plan to stage a hunger strike relay, and if there is still no action, they will fast unto death.

Mr Rai added: "We have given an ultimatum to Downing Street, but it is not a threat.

"We have been incessantly campaigning for the last two decades. All the Second World War Gurkha veterans passed away without justice being delivered to them and the same sort of tragedy may occur. Above all, tens of thousands of Gurkhas died and will keep dying for Britain; sadly this time, the loyal and brave Gurkhas have both mentally and physically prepared to sacrifice themselves for their own cause."