Context: Recently, Foreign Minister of Nepal has said that the 1947 agreement among India, Nepal and the United Kingdom that deals with the military service of Gurkha soldiers has become redundant.

Background

• Impressed by the discipline and ferocity of the Gurkha soldiers, following the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16, the British decided to recruit Gurkha soldiers in 1815.
• Ever since, the Gurkhas have fought on the side of the British Empire in almost every war, including both World Wars.
• The Gurkhas are recruited every year at the British Gurkha camp at Pokhara in Nepal.
• After India’s Independence in 1947, the question of allotting the 10 regiments of Gurkha soldiers was settled by the Britain-India-Nepal Tripartite Agreement.
• In 1948, the 11th Gurkha Rifles regiment was created in India in order to accommodate the Gurkhas who refused to depart with the now-British regiments.

Key points

• Nepal has proposed to the UK to review the 73-year-old tripartite agreement with India and Britain over the recruitment and deployment of Gurkha soldiers and their perks and facilities.
• Gurkha veterans have been alleging that the U.K. has been discriminating against them.
• A possible bilateral arrangement with India regarding the Gurkha soldiers has been indicated by the minister.

Issues Involved

• The objection from Nepal regarding the Gurkhas serving in the Indian military has become prominent in the backdrop of Nepal-India territorial dispute over the Kalapani region of Pithoragarh district that Nepal claims as its own.
• Nepal has responded by publishing a new map that included the disputed territories of Kalapani region.
• The issue became a talking point after Indian Army Chief remarked that Nepal’s strong protest against Indian road construction in the Limpiadora-Kalapani-Lipulekh area was at the behest of a third party (China).
• The Napelese people believe that Indian Army Chief, who is granted the honorary post of a General in the Nepal Army has hurt the sentiments of the Nepali Gurkha Army personnel who lay down their lives to protect India.
• Also the Gurkha veterans have been alleging that the United Kingdom has been discriminating against them in terms of pay, pension and other facilities.
• The British government started providing equal pay and pension to Gurkhas in 2007.