Nicola Smith

WHEN Joanna Lumley flies into Nepal today for a week-long “victory tour”, the first in line to greet her will be Gyanendra Rai, a Falklands veteran, who is one of the first to benefit from her campaign for Gurkha rights.

Rai will be among about 2,000 Gurkhas flocking to Kathmandu airport to cheer on the actress who helped to secure a High Court ruling that grants them the right to resettle in Britain.

The 53-year-old veteran, formerly of the 1st Battalion the 7th Gurkha Rifes, is still partially paralysed after his back was injured by an Argentine shell in June 1982.

He survived a life-saving operation after pints of blood were donated by his British Army colleagues. Last week he joked from Kathmandu: “I already have British blood running through my body.”

Although he nearly died defending British territorial interests, when he applied to move to the UK in 2006 for medical treatment his visa was denied. Until the High Court ruling in May, immigration officials refused visas for Gurkhas such as Rai on the grounds that they had not shown “strong ties” to Britain.

More than 45,000 Gurkhas have died in British uniform; 13 have won the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration. About 3,500 serve in the army, including Afghanistan.

Along with about 2,000 other Gurkhas who left the service before 1997, when their base was moved from Hong Kong to Britain, Rai did not qualify to seek work in the UK, give his children a British education or benefit from the National Health Service.

“I was very sad because I fought for the British and then they rejected me,” he said.

After the court decision that Gurkhas who had retired before July 1, 1997 now had the right to live in the UK, Rai’s application to emigrate was accepted. When the paperwork is finished he hopes to move to Ealing, west London.

“I feel very, very happy now that they’ve reconsidered. I will be at the front of the queue to welcome Joanna Lumley at the airport and many, many Gurkhas will be there. She is a heroine,” he said.

Lumley’s trip to Nepal was originally intended to be a private holiday with Peter Carroll, a colleague in the Gurkha Justice Campaign, and his family. It has now snowballed into a mass media event across the Himalayan country.

Lumley and her entourage will meet the president, prime minister and foreign minister. Their party has become so large they have had to hire two 18-seater planes.