"I fear the loss of the lives of good people if Gurkha Satyagraha pursue the hunger strike to death, which they announced on 1 July," said Councillor Alex Crawford of Rushmoor Borough Council.

"When my good friend, Gyanraj Rai, mounted his hunger strike eight years ago, I discussed it with him and tried to persuade him that the British Government never give way to hunger strikes.

"Nepali leaders took me to visit Gyanraj Rai during his hunger strike in Whitehall outside Downing Street to talk to him about political and diplomatic ways to achieve the aims of Gurkha Satyagraha.

"Fortunately, the then Prime Minister David Cameron then asked Joanna Lumley to intervene with the promise of an All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry led by Jackie Doyle-Price MP.

"I gave evidence to that Inquiry: https://gurkhainquiry.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/evidence-from-alex-crawford-of-rushmoor-borough-council.pdf

"But the Government did not accept all the Inquiry recommendations - so the Gurkha veterans still have grievances that need to be addressed.

"As it happens, today (5 May) is the 40th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, who was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze (also known as Long Kesh) in Northern Ireland.

"The death of Bobby Sands and nine of his Provisional IRA comrades achieved massive publicity for their cause - but the British Government did not give way to their demands.

"The Good Friday Agreement about the governance of Northern Ireland was only achieved through painstaking and skilled diplomatic and political means. 

"I would therefore appeal to Gurkha Satyagraha to give priority to achieving their aims through diplomacy and politics, rather than hunger strike to death."