For two centuries, tens of thousands of men from the mountains of Nepal have been recruited by the British army, earning reputations world-wide as unusually tough and brave soldiers.
Yet very few of the Gurkhas have become British citizens, even though hundreds of them have opted to settle in Britain after retiring from years of military service.
Their fortunes may now be about to change.
Gurkhas and their supporters have been trying for three years to publicly shame the British government with the charge it treats these soldiers as good enough to die for Britain, but not good enough to become citizens.
At his first press conference since the summer parliamentary recess, Prime Minister Tony Blair raised hopes the issue would be resolved soon.
"The issue to do with the Gurkhas we are looking at very carefully and I hope we can say some things on that in the next few weeks," Blair said.
However, the campaigners are not dropping their guard.
Bidur Pakhrin, a recently retired Gurkha soldier who is vice chairman of the British Gurkha Welfare Society, and other campaigners were due to meet on Monday with Britain's number-two opposition party.
Charles Kennedy, who heads the Liberal Democrats who have championed the Gurkha's cause, is expected shortly after the meeting to again raise the issue on the floor of the House of Commons, a party spokesman said.
There is "no better test of loyalty (to Britain) than risking death for it," said Liberal Democratic Party campaigner Peter Carroll, who represents retired Gurkhas in his constituency of Folkestone, south-east England.
Thousands of Gurkhas are serving or have served recently with British forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. Still more have served in past wars, including World War I and World War II.
"I think our government should hang its head in shame in that the Gurkhas are being forced to take to the streets" to fight for the right to be British, Carroll said in a telephone interview with AFP.
"People are outraged we're not offering citizenship," said Carroll, a former British serviceman.
Pakhrin, who lives in Folkestone with his wife and son, said he helped launch the campaign after tiring of what he sees as government stonewalling.
Pakhrin wishes the government would give Gurkhas the rights to citizenship, as well as other rights such as the same pensions given British soldiers, that average Britons seem ready to accord them.
"The British public is 100 percent behind us," he said. "They take their gloves off. 'It's an honour to meet you'," some will say when they meet him, Bidur recalled.
And public pressure appears to be growing.
The Daily Express, a mass circulation tabloid newspaper, has been doing its bit for the Gurkhas by running regular stories about them and inviting readers to sign their petition for citizenship.
The response is overwhelming, the paper says.
And after Blair pledged to act on the issue in weeks, the Daily Express headlined on its front-page: "Gurkhas: You Are Winning The Fight."
If Blair fails to make a clear decision in that time, Carroll vows not to let up the pressure on Downing Street.
The Liberal Democrat says Britain's ministry of defence "misquotes" from a 1947 treaty with Nepal to back its case for not granting citizenship to the Gurkhas.
The treaty only requires Gurkhas to be "discharged" within Nepal after completing their service, which he said does not bar them from later travelling to Britain and seeking citizenship there.
Citizenship is important for retired Gurkhas, because if they return to Nepal on a family visit, they risk being blocked by immigration on their return to Britain, Carroll and Pakhrin say.
Active-duty Gurkhas are exempt from British immigration controls, Pakhrin said.
As retired Ghurkas, most have no legal status, not even formal work papers, he added.
Pakhrin said he works as a truck driver because his application to become a police officer was rejected on the grounds he is not British.
Some 650 to 700 retired Gurkhas live in the United Kingdom, according to Carroll.
Carroll suspects the British government, which still hopes to recruit Gurkhas for the armed forces, fears upsetting a Nepalese government which might want to benefit from the skills of its retired soldiers.
Pakhrin, on the other hand, suspects some British officers are behind the stonewalling on citizenship because they have a "colonial" mindset. "They still want to treat us like 200 years ago," he said.
The British military has recruited Gurkhas since 1815 when they impressed officers with their bravery in defending Nepal against a British invasion.
Some 3,600 currently serve in the British forces in Britain and overseas. In the two world wars, 43,000 Gurkhas were killed or wounded in action, according to Carroll.
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