Dorona is the most remote and backward ‘Gewog’ (block) of all the inhabited area of Dagapela that can be logically argued through the availability of goods and services both in terms of forward and backward linkages. It had a dispensary in a two roomed single floor house at Nimtoladara with the staffing of a compounder and local peon and other was the Extended Classroom (ECR) of Powgang Primary School at Tharphu with the provision of one full time teaching staff and a local temporary teacher. The ECR was three roomed shed with wild bamboo messed walls and the double-pitched roof freely standing at the mud floor.
None of the houses were ever served with the public utilities and other infrastructure services for public goods. Furthermore, the most embarrassing situation was that due to the lack of any public built spaces; the ‘Gup’(Mandal –popularly elected block representative) had to run the office from their respective private houses. And till 1992, none of the Gups had the formal education, and this was not the qualifying criterion for that representation. The central had looked this area with least priority both in terms of capacity building and infrastructure development. May be with this reason, people used an idiomatic way of rating the civil officers as ‘am not afraid of such a high profile chaprasis (forest guards) and why should I fear of Dzongda’(Chief District Officer). Such was the exposure of the people from this block who couldn’t distinguish the comparative level of a Dzongda to a forester.
Some Phenomenal Incidences
Firstly, the officiating Gup left the country to join the antinational movements on September 1990 thereby creating a type of void between the grassroots people and the administrative authority for the proper and accurate communication. Taking the advantage of vulnerability of people, the remoteness and guardian-less condition, some 4 unidentified men took control of then on duty compounder at the midnight of September 29th, 1990. The staff didn’t surrender them but was helpless. The outfits then set the dispensary on fire where the inferno destroyed everything, the facility and the structure to ashes. On the same night they abducted the health staff leaving his wife and children there at miserable condition hardly anyone there to take care of them. This was all the movement of Dorona block.
Later when the country’s situation was normalize after a month or so the authority accused the local inhabitants not only of Nimtola village but for every household of the gewog for their involvement and not acting as a true citizen of Pelden Drukpa. People tried their best to convince their innocence, the authority turned their deaf ears and ultimately compelled everyone to leave the country.
Nimtoladara Meeting
The then Dzongda Hisey Dorji of Dagana District called a meeting for the people of Dorona block on April 4th, 1991 to convey the message of HM to the people of the block and also to review some of the occurrences that took place during the southern uprisings. The meet was conducted to find out the peoples’ involvement in the uprising that was against the prevailing regulations and give the clean sheets to the people. The meeting was scheduled to start at 9.00 am but due to commuting problems it actually began at 10.00am.
The general public were asked to sit at the ground like an amphitheatre stage, the performers at the front and the audiences facing towards the authorities that comprised of the Dzongda, the security chief Maj. Chachu with his armed military team and other local government staff. Dzongda was the all in all speaker to address the meeting. He began using really harsh language to scold the people and at times using bad mouthing. He took out a typed letter from his gho pouch and showed to the people mentioning that the very letter has been sent by the king. He didn’t read the letter but referring the document began saying that king isn’t happy with the people of south and got really infuriated with the type of situation prevailing in this region. He told that the king was caring the southern people more and had undertaken many physical development to facelift this area in spite of many developmental challenges. But he began losing faith and trust towards you all. You all used a plate to eat the food and used that same tool to pass the excreta. He questioned to the people whether or not the royal family would ever use the facilities of the local area.
There was a pin drop silence; no one had the courage to break such timing due to two reasons, first- all the participants were 100% illiterate comprising of shepherds, cattle herders and mere farmers to understand and explain the authority and second the people from the gewog never committed such act and lacked the background knowledge and factual information. Then it was dzongda himself to break the ice and said that you people pretend. Again he asked the mass to provide with the names of people who were involved at torching the dispensary building. Again no one uttered a word.
He took out another hand written paper that contained the names of all the people of the Gewog and began to read the names and segregate the people into two groups; one group was the clean sheet category and other the black list, people who had hands for the physical destruction a type of indirect challenge to the king and country. There were just two people on the clean sheet category namely the man who provided the list and second was his father in law family where as rest of the people were totally grouped under black list. The list was secretly prepared by the ‘Gup’ through the help from the local clandestine individual, a kind of espionage and was based on the personal relation of such providers.
Again referring to the letter send by HM, he began briefing that king has opened three options to the black listed people and told that it was mandatory to choose the best options for each family and told that early the better. The options opened were:-
Eviction Options
- Leave the country immediately with no conditions.
- Serve the compulsory detention term of 13.5 years.
- Face the extermination of public shooting at Capital’s national stadium.
Each family from my ‘Geog’ (block) had to choose the best among the above three alternatives provided by the state administration through the local bodies. Each option were detailed and explained to make it clear so that the ordinary layman can understand and reach at decision.
For the 2nd options, it was mandatory for each and every individual who were black listed by the government and were over 18 years to serve the prescribed period. Had the people been interrogated and had chance to express their involvement or prove their innocence, it would have been fair to enlist but how rationale was it to rubberstamp the list provided by such miscreants.
Extermination threat was made more convincing through the justification of numbers of bullets per individual southern population and public announcement was made that RGOB had bought 10 bullets equivalent to each southern person very recently from India’s goodwill. And some examples relevant to such practice were highlighted naming Chabda, Mahasur and others and there could be similar fate for everyone and the people were threatened to take the matter seriously and give the prompt response.
For the first option, if people were interested to opt then government would immediately make the sufficient arrangement at the earliest possible. What people have to do was just submit in writing that the person would be leaving the country at own will. People also had to mention that they were not forced by any law enforcing authorities and need to sign it that would automatically convert into the legal documents.
People watched the government’s move for about one complete year with a hope that government will be little flexible and considerate enough on these options but the situation further ruined. There were no any indications of improvements and at each and every step there came a barrier at every mode of activity. Within the extremism there reached a critical stage where people began saying that it is worth to be sanity than to end the life. People can tolerate to certain degree and when the level crosses the bearing limit then it’s obvious to shift the position in regards to uncertainty. Sadly, at the end people were compelled to sign the eviction form preferring madness than facing unnatural human disaster. When the autocrats think in an ethnic superiority conditions with total dominating and hate feelings towards minority population then there could be chances that such exterminations would prevail in the broad daylight where history has shown many such lessons.
During the process of eviction, people need to submit and surrender all the testimonies in regards to Bhutanese identity, be it citizenship card, tax receipt or property registration certificate. It’s those documents that show the proof as Bhutanese and once such documents are seized then it is obvious to brand the people into different categories, call it by illegal immigrants, economic emigrants, homeless dwellers or people of nowhere.
Now can we term this entire phenomenal move to be at people own will or some externality compelled to leave from the place of birth and citizenry?
Good work, author. In one incident I wittnessed the gathering of hundreds of people (I did not count the no. though but gauging from the occupied space on the ground and the density)in front of the Dzong. I was going in with the Dzongdag and some other officials for a brief work, walking from his residence after tea and snacks. I did not know where these people were from and thought they must have been called for some meeting. But I heard the Dzongdag roar at them thus: “PAHARDE HARU, NEPAL KO PAHARD KHAI SAKERA BHUTAN PANI KHAI SAKEU ABA…” and he gave a fiendish laugh. I was greived to hear such harsh utterance but did not understand the ground reality. Now I am linking those words with your story. I saw several houses also on fire along the road but the situation was not favourable to stop and ask the cause.
Regarding the 13.5 years of prison terms in the story, I was officially told by Dasho Tshering Wangdag in an occasion while approaching his office of Law and Order that I should wait for 14 years to avail one. The story relates the truth about the prevailing practice of the time. Yes, the Southern Bhutanese did suffer the brutality of the regime in the 1990s. The suffering is not yet over in the face of persistent attacks against census and land records that fall outside the power of the People’s Elected Government to settle directly.
…approaching his office of Law and Order for Security Clearance then called as “Police Clearance”…
This article could be used for the interview for Third Country Resettlement.
Tortola, these testimonials/evidences should be verified by neutral party for judging the power that wrought this disaster rather than compelling the Bhutanese victims to be resettled in the foreign lands. Please do not go crazy with TCR as if it were pre-meditated option for which Bhutanese struggled! Justice must be vindicated by subjecting the perpetrator to its arm!
PAHARDE HARU, NEPAL KO PAHARD KHAI SAKERA BHUTAN PANI KHAI SAKEU ABA…”
I am curious. Yishai, are you sure he said this? I never heard they called us PAHADAY.
Good work! In spite of your busy schedule, I appreciate your determination to write this article. To my knowledge Dorana block was the most backward village of Dagapela Dungkhag. During my tenure as the national assembly member, I had an opportunity to be close with the people and the place. Many times I had raised my voice in the Dzongkhag Yarkey Tshogchhung (DYT) meeting and the Assembly for the development of Dorana village. However, I could only bring small changes.
I very vividly remember the dispensary and its surroundings area. There was a house that the local people had built. Initially, it was used to teach English, but as time passed, it became the office for the Gups. Tharpu Dada also had a similar institution; they also offered ESL courses. The houses, once again, were built by the same people. I had visited and stayed there quite a lot. I personally presented a small token to the teachers just to boost their morale, motivate and acknowledge them.
In addition, I was personally present at the inauguration ceremony of Powgang primary school, attended mostly by the inhabitants of these blocks. The people took enormous pride in this school because it was the people of Imire and Dorona who built it. I visited the school a lot and held many meetings there. Near the school, through the convincing of the people, a temple was also built by the same hardworking citizens of Imire and Dorona. Even more impressive is the fact that this was done without any donations. I personally did all that I could to provide for this cause; I bought Shrines and various other things. The materials for the roofs were given by the government. In addition, we requested for the religious committee at Thimphu to provide payment to the priests that worked there as well.
I am really happy that you, being a product of such a backward village, are highly educated and now able to write about the village and make the people aware about it. I wish there was somebody to take a similar initiative to write some articles about Dagapela. If such is the case, I am always there to give essentials. I have a strong feeling that anyone who wishes to do this will benefit from my assistance. I am positive, and take pride in the certainty, that there are many others who are as educated as you are. In the contrary, if I wanted to write something myself, I would appreciate their help as well.
Nilik, I am still wondering and pondering what I heard from the mouth of late Dasho Yeshey Tshering. It was not “they said” but what I heard him saying in that instance. Going through the story revived the memory, and still curious to know what was meant by that…
for whatever sufferings that late Yeshey Tshering caused on humans either as a dzongda or a census team leader, he faced ultimately an early divine judgement; the curse of the thousands who suffered from his actions is capable of wiping out his entire family tree, such is the enormity faced by the mass civilians. one can only hope that he regretted for his arrogant actions in his final days.
Divine judgement, to the best of my knowledge late Dasho Yeshey Tshering could have done nothing without instruction from higher authorities, leaving aside this great feat that was achieved through planning, budgeting and implementing the plan through legal institutions in the country.
To me, he was a good person. God save his family members from any guilt of his deeds. Pray that he has enough explanation to lay aside the blame (by way of transfering them to the superiors that instructed/authorised him) and to exempt himself from damnation on this particular case…. May his
Divine judgement, to the best of my knowledge late Dasho Yeshey Tshering could have done nothing without instruction from higher authorities, leaving aside this great feat that was achieved through planning, budgeting and implementing the plan through legal institutions in the country.
To me, he was a good person. God save his family members from any guilt of his deeds. Pray that he has enough explanation to lay aside the blame (by way of transfering them to the superiors that instructed/authorised him) and to exempt himself from damnation on this particular case…. May his soul rest in peace.
Yishai, to me personally late Yeshey Tshering was good, but to the illeterate fellow villagers, he charged them like a lion. He had a wooden stick (in fact a smooth piece of smooth tree branch) beside him. He bashed the villagers for petty things. I do agree that higher authority have part to blame but he could have been more human for he was a well-educated civil officer who studied in Darjeeling.
Also the way blame game is happening to the king JSW, I won’t accept that. To me, the king was given false information right from the start of the problem. And at the height of the problem, the middle henchmen created a scenario according to the tune. These middle men were the masters when king wasn’t around. For example, the HM was never told that the dzongdas came with a suitcase full of money and voluntary migration forms, instead they gave audience to those who had already or about to sign the forms. The DSPs and dzongdas terrorised innocent villagers who at this time were in between the two opposite pressures instead of what HM wanted them to say: stay and the govt. will provide security and peace from the pressure across the border.
Has any culprit been apprehended and sentenced to this day for bringing this national level tragedy in the country? Who promised a BIG KIDU in the given time before anyone thought about it? We know well this BIG KIDU is the registered farmlands our ancestors developed and owned as part of this country, to serve the Tsa-Wa-Sum as loyal citizens of this beautiful country… On our very face it is taken away and distributed as the promised BIG KIDU while we run dry from post to pillar seeking minimal right when even our voice of supplications are considered to be “ferocious protests or vicious demands” of foreigners! The government owe us apology and restoration of our former status as “people of this nation”.
Can any Dzongdag or middle level officials do this, Divine_Punishment? Please process the Divine_Judgement first before punishing any one. This is the high level project involving three levels of activities, viz. PLANNING, BUDGETING and IMPLEMENTING the plans institutionally where highest level conciousness is never to be ABSENT or KEPT in the DARK. “Project Eviction” was budgeted activity of the five year plan when the then Finance Minister D Tshering anounced in the national assembly that lots of money (allocated under security head for political reasons) was left unspent, meaning….
It is futile to blame the black as black when it is the white which became black that should be observed with awe and caution… It means the white was never white and black is truthful, remaining black to the end. Where can you find this contrast, Divine_Punishment? The source of the problem lies in the contrast of BLACK and WHITE… Others are only agents that assisted the process to accomplish the greater objective… Your views are welcome for correction if necessary.