Bilateral talks with Bhutan ended: Nepalese minister

Kathmandu, July 27: Nepal’s Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan said his government will end the bilateral talks with Bhutan due to Bhutan’s unwillingness to sit for talks fore repatriation of the exiled Bhutanese.

Speaking to journalists in Kathmandu on Friday, Pradhan said the Bhutanese ministers sent information of their inability to sit for talks citing their resignation from ministerial posts.

Ministers, including Prime Minister Khandu Wangchuk, resigned en mass on Thursday morning intending to join party politics for the general election next year.

Pradhan told reporters that government has no more options than to open all alternatives for finding the solution of the protracted crisis. She said possibility of any more bilateral talks with Bhutan has ended.

Pradhan hinted that government might decide to open procedure for resettlement of the exiled Bhutanese in third countries including the United States. The US government had said it was willing to resettle at least 60,000 of the exiled Bhutanese. Canada and Australia each offered to settle 5,000.

Nepal had asked Bhutanese government to sit for final round of bilateral talks. Earlier in November, the Bhutanese ministers postponed the scheduled talks saying they were busy for birthday celebration of the fourth king. Bhutan News Service