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Surendra Phuyal in Kathmandu
Nearly 700 elderly Bhutanese refugees languishing in several camps in eastern Nepal have appealed to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to intervene in resolving the 12-year-old refugee stalemate that has soured relations between the two Himalayan kingdoms.
The Bhutanese Refugee Repatriation Representatives Committee, a refugee organisation based in Jhapa in east Nepal, sent the appeal bearing signatures of 675 elderly Bhutanese refugees to Vajpayee on November 7.
The elderly people live in seven different refugee camps in Morang and Jhapa districts, and represent the 100,000-odd Bhutanese refugees languishing there since 1990, refugee leaders said.
"The Bhutan-India Treaty of 1949 empowers India to guide Bhutan in its defence and foreign policy [related matters]," S B Subba, Chairman of the BRRRC said from Jhapa. "So, we have requested the prime minister of India to help create an environment conducive for dignified repatriation of all Bhutanese refugees."
While the 100,000-odd Bhutanese refugees are languishing in east Nepal, an additional 30,000 refugees are receiving shelter in north and east India, Ratan Gajmeher, Chief Coordinator of Association of Human Rights in Bhutan, said.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has been supporting the seven refugee camps, scattered through Morang and Jhapa districts in east Nepal.
India has attempted to remain neutral over the refugee issue, saying that it should be resolved through bilateral negotiations between Nepal and Bhutan.
But various international organisations, including Amnesty International, have asked India to be more proactive.
On their part, Nepal and Bhutan have already had 11 rounds of ministerial-level meetings with no outcome. While Kathmandu has been urging Thimpu to take back all refugees from the seven camps, Bhutan asserts that not all refugees are 'genuine' Bhutanese citizens, and it would take back only the genuine ones.
Matters have become worse after joint refugee verification teams, comprising officials from Bhutan and Nepal, verified over 12,000 refugees in one Khudanabari camp in Jhapa in early 2001.
"Bhutanese refugees came to Nepal through the Indian territory, so naturally India should do something to help resolve this humanitarian crisis," said Gajmeher.
Foreign Ministry officials in Kathmandu say that the ministry has written to Thimpu to resume the next [12th] round of talks, and yet it has not received any reply.
The refugees assert that they are victims of ethnic cleansing, which started in southern Bhutan in the late 1980s and picked up its momentum in the early 1990s.
The Lhotsampas, as the southern Bhutanese are called before they left the Himalayan Kingdom, have been fighting for their repatriation ever since.
The Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin say their ancestors were settled in southern Bhutan during the early 17th century by the then ruler, Sabdung Nawa Namgyal, as per a bilateral accord reached between Bhutan and Nepal in 1624.
Extremely concerned about foreign cultural invasion, Bhutan maintains it did not expel genuine Bhutanese during the 'ethnic cleansing', and claims that most of those expelled were illegal migrants from Nepal who went to Bhutan recently.
But in an appeal to Vajpayee, the elderly said, "We did not go to Bhutan as migrant workers. So the rulers of Wangchuck dynasty can't destroy the facts about our true history. We want to be repatriated back to our homeland."
And with the festering refugee tangle showing no signs of getting resolved through Bhutan-Nepal negotiations alone, refugee leaders like Gajmeher have started to demand international help.
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