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It’s
democracy for some as Bhutan refuses to allow more than 100,000
Bhutanese Hindu refugees to return home.
 While
the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has been winning strokes across
the world for its abdicating king’s voluntary decision to
bequeath democracy to his subjects, the dark side is the 100,000
Bhutanese refugees, in neighboring Nepal who were kicked out of
Bhutan in 1991.
The
refugees are Nepali-speaking Bhutanese who were driven out after they
protested the passage of a law in the 1980s that arbitrarily
cancelled their citizenship. As many as a sixth of the Bhutanese
population, most of them living in the south of the country, fled
Bhutan in 1990. They have been living in refugee camps in Nepal
since that time, seeking to get back home.
Bhutan,
also known as Druk Yul or the Dragon Kingdom, is surrounded by Nepal,
India and Tibet. The country is the midst of a unique transition from
absolute monarchy to multiparty democracy, bequeathed by the Dragon
King, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, and not because of any popular uprising.
Previously, his main accomplishment visible to the outside world was
his Gross National Happiness standard-of-living index but in December
last year, having set democracy in motion, he abdicated the throne in
favor of his eldest son, the Oxford- educated Crown, he Prince Jigme
Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk.
The
benefits of happiness, however, do not seem to be available to Hindu
Bhutanese.
“Some
108,000 Bhutanese refugees have been registered by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees," says Suhas Chakma, the director
of the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), a New Delhi based rights
body. Following a visit to the refugee camps in Nepal last month,
Chakma reiterated his demand that Bhutan be held accountable for
settlement of the exiles.
Bhutan
is finding this an annoying distraction from Jigme’s plans for
democracy, which is getting a series of dry runs prior to the
election of a prime minister and council of ministers next year,
diminishing the monarchy to a ceremonial role. A second round of mock
polls was completed Monday, with school children under the
supervision of the Election Commission of Bhutan participating as
dummy candidates. Four mock parties the Druk Red Party, Druk
Blue Party, Druk Green Party and Druk Yellow Party, each with
different symbols and colors participated. Electronic Voting
Machines were in place, with assistance and support from India.
Meanwhile,
two political parties, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the
Bhutan People United Party (BPUP) have registered with the
government. A third political party is in the offing, an alliance of
retired civil servants, defense officials and businessmen called the
Bhutan National Party (BNP).
"We
definitely need at least three credible political parties, a local
journalist told Asia Sentinel. “Otherwise it may turn into a
situation where the voters would have to select one from two worst
candidates," he said. "We expect for a smooth transition,
though I cannot deny that many Bhutanese people are still
apprehensive about democracy."
The
mock polls are for everybody but the exiled Bhutanese, who repeatedly
demanded to be included in the first round but were refused.
Nepal-based separatists in the camps as well as the Bhutan Communist
Party, a group formed by refugees, threatened to carry out bomb
attacks in Bhutan during Monday's mock voting but the situation
remained calm.
The
Nepal government raised the issue with Bhutanese authorities in 15
rounds of talks, though it failed to convince Thimphu to allow the
refugees to go home. Not a single refugee has returned to Bhutan.
India, though recognized as Bhutan’s friendliest neighbor and
biggest aid donor, has kept out of the dispute, arguing that 'it was
a bilateral matter between Nepal and Bhutan.
It is
difficult to see any immediate solution. United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres visited some of
the Nepal-based refugees recently, the first visit by a high-ranking
UNHCR official to the camps since they were established 16 years ago.
Speaking in Kathmandu, Guterres reiterated UNHCR's continuing effort
to resolve the issue
"We
will go on knocking at the door of Bhutan for the amicable
repatriation of thousands of Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal,"
he asserted. "Amazingly, the refugees have a great will to go
back."
It
appears that a lot of the Bhutanese will give up and migrate
overseas. On May 26, US Ambassador to Nepal James F. Moriarty and
announced that the US would offer permanent resident status to at
least 60,000 of them, adding that the US would provide an additional
US$2 million in food aid to the camps. Australia, Canada, Denmark,
the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway have also volunteered to
take a share of refugees for resettlement. However, the Asian Center
for Human Rights has asked all the countries not to undertake any
hasty resettlements.
Speaking
to Asia Sentinel from New Delhi, Suhas Chakma, the Asian Human Rights
Center director, stressed: "The international community must be
mindful of the implications of any resettlement process without any
written commitment from Bhutan. It would be tantamount to supporting
ethnic cleansing policies by the Royal Government of Bhutan."
He
warned that if Bhutan can get away with 108,000 refugees, the
situation of the remaining ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan could be
untenable as they might also be forced to renounce their citizenship
or leave Bhutan.”
“Bhutan,
which has perfected the art of repression, need not expel the ethnic
Nepalis en masse but it can somehow force them to leave,” he
said.
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