Appeal to Man Mohan Singh
Kakarvitta, February 10: Coinciding the visit of His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk to India Human Rights Organization of Bhutan and Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front organized Dharna at Mechi bridge. Along with that an appeal was sent to the prime minister of India Dr. Mon Mohan Singh signed by people in the Dharna requesting to raise the issue of exiled Bhutanese in Nepal with the king and at the same time help resolve the problem. There were about 75 participants from Timai, Khudunabari, Beldangi and Sanischare camps. Bhutan News Service
Full appeal
9 February 2007
To,
Dr Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India.
7, Race Course Road
New Delhi-110001
India.
Subject: Appeal for Amicable Resolution of Bhutanese Refugee Problem
Your Excellency,
We the long suffering Bhutanese refugees, who have been stranded in the UNHCR organized camps in eastern Nepal for the last 16 years, would like to appeal once again to Your Excellency to kindly take up with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who is on an official visit to India from 7-12 Feb 2007, about the plight of more than 1, 30,000 Bhutanese people who are compelled to live in exile.
Your Excellency, we have great hope on our new King who is highly educated and exposed to the world at large. It was a shear misunderstanding in the early 1990s between the people of south Bhutan and the ruling elites in Thimphu about the issues of Bhutanese citizenship, adoption of Bhutanese culture and tradition by Lhotsampa communities, and establishment of human rights and democracy in Bhutan that caused the refugee problem.
Since then Bhutan has come a long-way with democratic reforms. It has now a written constitution and parliamentary democratic system of government will be in Thimphu after 2008 election. In exile too there are social organizations, human rights platforms and political parties who have gathered some experiences to function in democratic environment. Time has come for all the Bhutanese people to forget about the past and come together under the leadership of fifth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Wangchuck to engage at the nation building process
India has had played meaningful roles at the time of political crisis in Bhutan. Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was instrumental to settle the dispute between the Bhutan State Congress and the royal government of Bhutan in the early 1950s. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was equally forthcoming to help Bhutan overcome the 1974 crisis, including resettlement of some 4000 Tibetan refugees from Bhutan to elsewhere.
The Bhutanese refugee problem is one of the longest, neglected and protracted humanitarian problems in the world today. More than one sixth of the country’s population has been living outside the country for more than one and half a decade. Those of us who believe in peaceful resolution of this problem are sliding our sway in the camps, and assertive younger generations of youths, who are impressed with the revolutionary change in Nepal, and who are getting increasingly impatient, could take over soon the mantle of the leadership in exile.
In this context, The Satyagraha Committee, which avowedly follows the peaceful path shown by Mahatma Gandhi, has given a call for National Reconciliation and Repatriation, and in it are all major refugee organizations: Bhutan National Democratic Party, Druk National Congress, Human Rights Organization of Bhutan, and Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front. It has also the support of almost all prominent Bhutanese citizen and elderly people in exile.
The Satyagraha Committee firmly believes that the lasting solution of this problem is to permit the willing Bhutanese citizen to return to Bhutan with honor and dignity and allow the political parties, human rights platforms and social organizations to operate freely inside the country and participate in the first democratic election to be held in Bhutan in 2008.
The bilateral framework between Bhutan and Nepal has not yielded any solution despite the 15 rounds of negotiations in the past. Unless the terms and conditions are modified, it is unlikely to deliver an acceptable solution since the agreement to categorize the refugees into four groups: Bhutanese forcibly evicted, Bhutanese who emigrated, non-Bhutanese people and Bhutanese with criminal records adds complication to the resolution. Some 12500 refugees from one of the seven camps in Nepal were verified and categorized by the Joint Verification Team of Nepal and Bhutan in 2001. Till date not even a single refugee has returned to Bhutan.
India with historical legacy of helping Bhutan at the time of crisis, and now with signing the updated version of the 1949 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, we the Bhutanese people living in exile pin hope on the Government of India that it will have an in-depth discussion with our King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on the options to find an amicable resolution of the refugee problem and deliver us from the stigma of being refugees for so long. We earnestly appeal to Your Excellency to take personal interest to end the long sufferings of Bhutanese people in the refugee camps.
Thanking You
Sincerely Yours
S/No Name Signature