First of all, the military genuis of the Ghurkas are legendry. There's no debating that. They were and are great warriors. However, for the Indian members: do you know why the Ghurkas were fighting the British? To be independent and just like the great Empire what did Britian do? Praise them and hire them as soldiers. Military tenacity aside the Ghurkas bled for the British Empire everywhere since 1816: they were paramount in the British conquest of the Sikh Punjab, the Pakhtun tribes the 1857 rebellion. As a post-colonial nation both Pakistanis and Indians should be aware that the British used us. Our bravery and loyalty was no more than that of a Slave. We helped the British conquor each other. That includes the Ghurkas who in a way were conqored by the British in the end as were we all.
Secondly, most of the posts by Indian members reeks of the concept of martial races do you know again that that's a colonial legacy? Is a Bengali and Tamil really not good a soldier as a Punjabi or a Ghurka? I disagree. So should you: our armies, navies, and air forces are living proof of that. The concept was esentially 'divide and rule' in another package.
Thirdly, do any of you even know what the Ghurkas are actually called? Did you know that the 'Pathans' do not like being called that? That term is again a British legacy? Here's a metaphor for you to understand, watch a series called 'Roots' there's a character in it called Tobais: he's an African man captured and brought to the US as a slave. His owner asks him, 'what is your name?' He answers, 'Tobais.' He is lashed and his master says, 'your name is Toby!'. He asks again what his name is and the man being of a more defiant nature says that his name is Tobais. He is lashed again and again until his back is red. He is asked again what is name is and after 3 days of torture he says his name is Toby. Politically and socially that is exactly what the British have done to us. The 'Ghurkas' are actually called Gorkhali they are not one tribe but of many each having her own heritage and history and for the ease of the British they were called a singular Ghurka. That's how you guys are referring to them and I'm sorry but it reminds me of the same submissive mentality that got us saying Sahib to every white man we saw.
Thirdly, the Gorkhali people are from Nepal and some have settled in India as well and there have been some elements in the Nepali government that do not want their people to be mercenaries for the Indian government and essentially that is what they are for the Indians as well. I refuse to believe that India lacks brave men to fill their gap and I refuse to believe that the Gorkhali peoples cannot excell in other professions with the same zeal that they have excelled as soldiers.
BTW, I met this gentlemen from Waziristan to whom I said Pathan and he told me that that is not who he is he is a Pakhtun the Pathan is what the white man called his people because he did not want to go to the extent of allowing them to choose what they call themselves. He told them what he will call them. He said that me calling him a Pathan was the same. I was really moved by that and now I call every Pakhtun a Pathan.
We are a people of rich history, the Rajputs for example, can be traced to the great Scythian tribes. The Punjabis and Sindhis are perhaps the descendents of the people of the great Indus Valley civilisation which was the most prosperous and complex social structure of the ancient world and reached the dream of modern societies: egalitarianism. So please, respect one another and your histories.
