The British government has decided to allow women to join the Gurkhas for the first time in the 200 years old history of the brigade.

British newspaper Telegraph stated Friday that defence minister Derek Twigg confirmed that recruitment will be reviewed to ‘examine the feasibility of Nepali women being recruited into the Brigade of Gurkhas non-infantry units’.

The decision has come on the occasion of International Women Day. Earlier, the reports said government had decided to increase the pension and other perks of the Gurkhas who joined after July 1, 1997 equal to that of their British colleagues.

However, the Labour Party has been accused of abandoning thousands of Nepali veterans after the British Ministry of Defence said the new deal would only apply to soldiers who joined up after July 1, 1997 .

There are currently 3,500 Gurkhas in the Army, the majority of who have served on all overseas operations, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq .

While the review has been going on into the terms and conditions of soldiers who joined after 1997 – when the Gurkhas’ headquarters moved to Britain after Hong Kong was handed back to China – an estimated 25,000 living in Nepal have been ignored.

The ministry maintains that all Gurkhas who retired or were made redundant before 1997 were either given lump sum payments or pensions that reflected the local standard of living and do not need to be included in the review.

Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organisation (GAESO) said it would continue fighting for equal treatments of all retired Gurkha soldiers.

In another development, Gurkhas who have at least five years of service will have the opportunity to transfer to other units in the British army to pursue their careers.

The newspaper quoted Twigg as saying, “This is the right thing to do. As a government, we have continually sought to ensure equality amongst our workforce here in the UK .”