Actress Joanna Lumley, whose father served with the Sixth Ghurka Rifles, led a rally in London yesterday calling on the government to pay back a "debt of honour" to Gurkhas.

Around 2000 veterans and campaigners delivered a petition and laid a wreath in memory of those who died serving in the British Army. In the wake of a High Court ruling, the Gurkha Justice Campaign wants new measures to be introduced to give Gurkhas who retired or were discharged from the Army before 1997 the automatic right to settle in the UK. Currently, only Gurkhas who left the Army after July 1, 1997, are eligible to settle here. In September, the High Court ruled that the policy which excludes pre-1997 retired Gurkhas from the UK was unlawful.

The Home Office claims all Gurkha cases will be reviewed by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Stop the War Coalition handed in a letter to 10 Downing Street demanding an end to the war in Afghanistan on the seventh anniversary of the country's liberation.

Politicians from the three main parties attended the event, with two Gurkha veterans who won the Victoria Cross.

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