Mustering for a new life within doubts
Today I m standing in front of recently established Armed Police-Check post in Beldangi II Extension, one of the seven camps where the exiled Bhutanese live. It is seven o’clock in the morning. Owing to the cold morning of mid winter, there are very few people who could be seen in the nearest vicinity. They are the ones who have been operating groceries and hotels in a local market.
Not withstanding the cold weather, a select few people are seen standing, turning their heads every now and then as if they have someone to look for. The arrival of a vehicle of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) at 7.30 makes me dead sure that the people standing near by are those who are going to the IOM office for the interview started for their resettlement to the US.
The present situation of the camps seems to be quite changed. The exiled Bhutanese are found to be at ease, up to some extent. They feel a long lost security has been restored. Interestingly, those who were much scared even to think about resettlement are found discussing it candidly with each other.
Although, a section of people has resolved to get resettled in the western countries, the reasons behind this differ from individuals. The elderly people have decided to opt for resettlement only for the future generation. Some of them want to come up as the human beings. There are some people who don’t see the prospect of getting repatriated. A majority of them have decided to fight for the establishment of democracy in Bhutan even after getting resettled.
Resettlement does not seem enigmatic following the information campaign by the UNHCR and US. Nonetheless, the people still fear whether their academic certificates would be recognised abroad. Some commoners doubt if they would be allowed to practice their culture and follow the religion in the western countries. Some youths even want the resettling countries to allow them to go abroad leaving their parents behind if the latter do not aspire to get resettled.
The proposal of resettlement has been a matter of hot debate for over a year. Although some of the so-called vulnerable were resettled in Canada in the yesteryear, none is resettled till date under the present resettlement scheme.
It is pellucid that some factors appeared to be serious impediment to the ontime and peaceful instigation of the resettlement. However, the US has endorsed that if every thing moves ahead smoothly, some 3,000 exiled Bhutanese will move to the US by the end of January. To add, at the time when resettlement is about to begin, some people have been muddled by the news that appear in flimsy way in different newspapers. This has a positive effect as well. Many exiled Bhutanese are seen in crowd in UNHCR and IOM offices to muster the first hand information about the procedure of resettlement and weigh its credibility.
On the other hand, a good many people have still a hope to get repatriated. Although they have no interest to be more of a hindrance to one willing to start a life in thousands of miles away, they only aim to return to their country with honor and dignity. According to them, resettling exiled Bhutanese in the western countries will not bring a lasting solution to the crisis.
Seventeen years of stay in the camps monitored by the UNHCR has plausibly sharpened their brain to decide the future for themselves. So they are likely to have differences in opinion of what is correct, what is good. Whether one waits to go back to Bhutan, get locally assimilated or choose to get resettled, their opinion must be respected.