Campaign for third country settlement accelerates

Kathmandu, June 28: Coordinator of the Association of Human Rights Activists (AHURA) Bhutan Ratan Gazmere has teamed up with Hari Adhikari Bangale to accelerate the advocacy for third country settlement of the exiled Bhutanese.

Gazmere, Bangale and others on Wednesday met with Nepalese foreign minister Sahana Pradhan and asked her government to provide safe passage for third country settlement of the exiled Bhutan and stop dialogue with Bhutan government.

According to the Nepalese media reports, he even criticized the stand taken by other human rights leader Tek Nath Rizal that the only comprehensive solution of the crisis is repatriation of the exiled Bhutanese to homeland.

Gazmere led team also asked Pradhan to speed up measures to tighten the security in the camps where violence has begun to erupt. Bangale was severely beaten in May in a scuffle and two other exiled Bhutanese lost their life.

The team had met with Nepal representative of the UNHCR Abraham Abraham on the previous day to discuss the ways to harmonize the situation in camps and begin third country settlement.

However, the reports do not quote him saying that they requested the Nepalese government to seek Indian and international support for repatriation of the Bhutanese citizens. Bangale has been living inside the camp since years but Gazmere has never. Bhutan News Service