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During the 76th
National Assembly session held in August 1998 the Bhutanese
government announced that around 1027 households from north and
east of Bhutan had been rehabilitated in southern Bhutan. The
'people's representatives' asked the government to speed up the
resettlement scheme and also to expand it to other southern
districts.
As
a result of this, today several hundred acres of land and
housing properties in the six districts of southern Bhutan
belonging to over 100,000 Lhotshampas (Southern Bhutanese)
refugees are being distributed to northern Bhutanese families
under the resettlement scheme of the Royal Government of Bhutan.
The
government authorities undertook this scheme asking the
"land-less people" to apply on the prescribed application forms
to the government for land. When asked by the media, it
acknowledged that the government was distributing "only those
lands" in Sarbhang, which belonged to people who left Bhutan
"voluntarily".
It
may be noted that this scheme of resettlement in the south is of
recent origin and that it was not in practice before forcible
eviction of the Lhotshampas. It is ironic that the northern
Bhutanese families are being resettled in southern Bhutan on
lands belonging to Bhutanese refugees who are still aspiring to
return from the refugee camps in eastern Nepal. On one hand the
Bhutanese government is trying to convince the world community
that it is negotiating for the return of refugees through a
bilateral process with the Nepalese government, but at the same
time it is distributing the landed property of the refugees to
the people from the northern Bhutan.
The
resolutions adopted by the 76th National Assembly of
Bhutan has linked this resettlement scheme with the
government’s developmental perspective. Nevertheless, it is not
too difficult to see that several of the northern families now
resettled in the south had very little option but to accept what
was forced upon them by the district authorities. When these
northern Bhutanese learned that the land and houses being
allocated to them actually belonged to the Lhotshampas and that
one day those people might return and claim their land, the
northerners did not want to take it. However, they were forced
to resettle on these lands by the Royal Government of Bhutan.
Presently
the resettlement scheme is on full swing in the districts of
Chirang, Sarbahang, Samchi. However, similar schemes are also
underway in two other districts of Samdrupjongkhar and Chhuka.
The
blocks from Sarbhang district which were the first to have been
given away are Lalai, Danabari, Bhur and Gaylegphung. In Lalai
block alone more than 300 families from east and central Bhutan
are reported to have been resettled. Similarly large quantities
of land and housing properties under Lamidara, Kikortang,
Tshokana, and in Chanuatay blocks under Chirang districts were
given away to northern Bhutanese families.
Resettlement
in Samchi district started from Ghumaunay and then moved on to
neighbouring Nainital and Chengmari Blocks. More than 200
families have been reportedly resettled so far since January
1999. The Royal Government has established a Royal Bhutan Army
Training centre in Ghumaunay block after the mass exodus of
early 1990s.
There
were reports that when in 1998 the northern Bhutanese families
declined to take the government’s offer of free land and housing
materials, some families were arrested in connection of
non-compliance to the order.
Hundreds
of acres of agricultural land owned by some 450 families in
Dnabari block in south Bhutan’s Sarbhang district, most of whom
are now refugees in eastern Nepal, have been given away to more
than 300 new families from the north beginning in 1998 by the
Royal Government. The new settlers are known to have been
forcibly brought from north central districts viz Bumthang
and Tongsa and eastern districts of Mongar and
Tashigang.
In
order to make this program a success, attractive and acceptable
to the families from the north, the government supplied free
building materials and financial assistance. The government
reopened most of the basic facilities like schools, health
centers and other social service schemes in these areas that had
been closed indefinitely in 1990 owing to the agitation for
democratic reforms by Lhotshampas in the south. The houses in
the urban areas from where the southern Bhutanese were evicted
is now occupied by the bureaucrats, the main government agents
and their kin folk, whereas land in the rural areas have been
distributed to the people from northern Bhutan.
Bhutan
should stop the resettlement programme that is being undertaken
in the southern Bhutan and arrange to moveback all those
families who already been resettled on the land of the refugees.
The bilateral dialogue between the governments of Nepal and
Bhutan cannot yield any result if Bhutan continues the
resettlement programme. If this resettlement scheme continues
then more Lhotshampa families will be evicted form the country.
In the south the culture, language and the religion of the
northern Bhutanese is being imposed on the Lhotshampas. There
are reports that the Lhotshampas are facing harassment and
humiliation at the hands of the new northern settlers and
government officials.
Situation Update:
Tek Nath Rizal released:
Mr. Tek Nath Rizal, a leader of Bhutan's democracy movement, who
was adopted by the Amnesty International as a "Prisoner of
Conscience". was released along with 200 other prisoners
including 39 political prisoners on December 17, 1999 coinciding
with the National day of Bhutan. Mr. Rizal who was an elected
member of Bhutan's Royal Advisory Council was abducted from
Nepal on November 16 1989. He was sentenced to life imprisonment
by the High Court of Bhutan on November 16, 1993, for violating
the National Security Act of 1992, which was passed two years
after Rizla's incarceration. Three days after this, His majesty
the King of Bhutan had ruled over the court's verdict and
declared that Mr. Rizal would be released upon finding a
solution to the Bhutanese refugee problem.
Mr. Rizal after his release is reported to be waiting for an
audience with His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. He has
said that he would continue to struggle for the just cause of
the Bhutanese people. The Kuensel (government newspaper) of
December 18, 1999, stated that, in a Kasho to the Home Minister
His Majesty explained that, although Mr Rizal had been sentenced
to life imprisonment for subversive and treasonable acts against
the Tsawa Sum (King, Country and the people), He was being
granted the royal pardon because he had not physically carried
out acts of violence and terrorism and that he had already
served 10 years in prison.
Madline Albright writes to the Foreign Ministry:
January 1st week: Madaeline Albright the secretary of
State of United States had sent a letter to the Foreign Ministry
of Nepal expressing interest in the long standing Bhutanese
refugee crises in Nepal. She writes that US wishes the crises to
be resolved soon and has appreciated the way Bhutanese refugees
are kept in the camps. (The Kathmandu Post, January 22,2000)
Ms. Julia Taft call Foreign Minister Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley:
January 14, 2000: The Assistant Secretary of State for
Population, Refugees and Migration in the United States Ms.
Julia Taft discussed with Bhutanese Foreign Minister and other
high officials the 11 year old problem of the Bhutanese refugees
who are in the camps in eastern part of Nepal.
Ms. Julia Taft. Visited the Bhutanese refugee camps in
eastern Nepal on October 9, 1999 and met the Representative of
UNHCR. (The Kathmandu Post)
Vollebaek to raise refugees issue during his trip to
Bhutan:
January 14 2000: Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut
Vollebaek said he would raise the issue of Bhutanese refugees
during his Bhutan visit. "Since I have discussed with the
Nepalese Government about the refugee issue, it will also be
natural for me to ask Bhutanese Government how they asses the
situation and see that the problem can be solved," the Norwegian
Minister told the Rising Nepal before boarding the Bhutan bound
Druk Air's aircraft. "This is a serious problem and we will have
to see how it can be solved." (TheRising Nepal)
Foreign Minister expects to resolve Bhutanese refugee
crises "in a month":
January 13, 2000: Foreign Minister (Nepal) Dr. Ram Sharan
Mahat said that the fate of nearly one hundred thousand
Bhutanese refugees languishing in Nepal could be decided "within
a month." " We are holding another round of meeting with Bhutan
within a month. After that we will hopefully identify the
genuine refugees and initiate the process of repatriation. We
want it to be the last meeting between the two countries
regarding the refugee problem," the Foreign minister said. Eight
rounds of talks between the two countries have failed to yield
desired results.
"The misunderstandings between the two countries have been
cleared," he said, adding that the Bhutanese government thought
that Nepal was taking interest in their internal affairs but
that the Nepali side has assured them that it has no interest in
their internal affairs. (The Kathmandu Post)
Bhutan Charged of Human Rights violation: According to
the Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2000 Bhutan's attempt to
buy a building in New York's First Avenue to house its United
Nations mission has hit a snag following charges of human rights
violation.
Nepal Bhutan talks February 14 - 16 2000. The
secretary-level talks between Bhutan and Nepal held in Thimphu
ended without much progress. The talks were held for preparing
the groundwork for the ministerial level meeting and to work on
modalities of the verification of refugees ended with a decision
to hold yet another round of official level talks in the first
half of March as the Bhutanese side asked for more time to
discuss the different aspects of the refugee verification
process. The two sides have been disagreeing on the verification
process for long. Nepal has been demanding that the verification
team should visit all the camps interviewing the heads of the
families whereas Bhutan wants to interview every member of the
family. It is said that Bhutan has been demanding details of
every person in the camps. (The rising Nepal and Kathmandu Post)
AI talks with Bhutanese refugees February 22, 2000.
Amnesty International (AI) has urged Bhutan to open dialogue
with its Nepali-speaking population in the south and stop
courting new problems that would further complicate the issue.
Mr. Rori Mungoven of Amnesty International's Director for Asia
Pacific said that they were shocked to see the level of
marginalization of the southern Bhutanese during their visit in
1998. (The Kathmandu Post) |
