In a bustling capital like Delhi, events and activities are hardly scarce. But a fortnightly columnist is always attracted to the unusual, the novel and the offbeat. On these criteria, many fortnights are barren. But not the preceding one. Let me deal with two experiences clearly meeting those requirements. The first relates to a lunch … Read more
The repression of innocent Bhutanese refugees by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA), which has entered their original homeland, continues unabated. The detention of Shantiram Acharya, a registered refugee of Beldangi-II, Sector 'D' Hut No. 85, along with three other Bhutanese refugee youths, on the fake charge of being a Maoist militia on January 16, is … Read more
It’s been more than one-and-half decades since the first group of refugees reached eastern Nepal from Bhutan. However, their collective sufferings resulting from the tragedy of forced exile continue unabated; they have no way of knowing what their situation will be from one day to the next. With respect to land, they lost the possessions … Read more
Bhutan's foreign minister Khandu Wangchuk on December 27 has said that bringing back the "highly-politicized camp people" into Bhutan would mean importing ready-made-terrorists. It is learnt that while addressing the Druk parliament, Wangchuk claimed many in the UNHCR-sponsored camps are listed as both "refugees and Maoist members." Actually, these sorts of statements made by the … Read more
During his recent visit to Nepal, Indian foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon once again pushed the issue of Bhutanese refugees to Nepal and Bhutan to decide. More exactly the things are clear, India would prefer the issue to get prolonged and derive more benefits from Bhutan. Regarded the largest democratic nation of the world, not … Read more
The Bhutanese refugee impasse is progressively stepping towards complication. Gradually, it is attracting individual refugee and well-wishers into hot debate. This decade-and-half years of pending issue has been one of the biggest burdens for South Asia. Even the world community is unreceptive to the dilemma. The long stay in the unimproved camps under the plastic … Read more
With a Foreign Secretary only recently installed and a fresh Foreign Minister now in place, a new team is in charge at MEA. The changes at the top do not look like routine turnovers but bid fair to give renewed impetus to the conduct of foreign policy. It is thus a proper moment to consider … Read more
Not only in modern times, relation between Bhutan and Nepal, had been historical since Tibeto-origin lamas permanently settled in Bhutan, who, earlier to their departure to Bhutan, had maintained close relation with Nepal. The history begins with the marriage between two royal families of Nepal and Tibet long before Nepal came into existence. The historical … Read more
Karma Phuntsho’s article ‘Bhutan reforms and Nepalese criticism’ in Open democracy dated 13-10-2006 has factually wrong information that is largely made on the assumptions that prevails in Bhutan. When the 1958 Citizenship Act was implemented throughout Bhutan in 1985, it affected sections of the Lhotsampa community. It could have been resolved if Lyonpo Dago Tshering … Read more
The play, at the Cherry Lane Theater, is named for the kingdom in the Himalayas, but everyone in it talks like a caricature of a Maine lobsterman, since it's set somewhere in New England, and that exaggerated drawl (done inconsistently here, as it almost always is) is theatrical shorthand for "poor and undereducated." Happily, there … Read more