A group of women, who are without refugee status or official registration in refuge camps, submitted a memorandum to various local human rights groups, camp management committee and BRRRC (Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee) asking them to put pressure on the government authority to start official registration at the earliest possible time, Sunday.

According to Durga Devi Bista, Coordinator of the women group, the letter was submitted to those who had signed the “government commitment paper” in last November.

The local authority of Jhapa had committed to begin the registration process of all pending cases within April 2012. However, no progress at any level has been made to address the demands of asylum seekers and non-Bhutanese married to exiled Bhutanese, claimed Bista.

“We have been constantly trying to seek an appointment with the Chief District Officer to inquire about the progress,” She told Bhutan News Service adding, “The authority has been denying to listen at our problems.”

Bista also expressed sadness over the lack of progress regarding the resumption of registration process in the camps.

“Three months have already passed. We are really worried to get our status registered within the next two months.”

In last November, the group led a hunger strike of 12 days demanding refugee status and other facilities as enjoyed by their friends and relatives.

It is estimated that over 3,000 individuals have been deprived of official recognition. Of this some 1200 women are Nepalese or Indian nationals married to exiled Bhutanese.

The Youth Organization of Bhutan (YOB) has raised the issue of exiled Bhutanese in a three-day regional meeting of the Asia Pacific Committee (APC) of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) that concluded on February 20.

A press statement issued by the Organization said that its President Rajen Giri from California of America attended the meeting in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia.

Dozens of youth leaders from Burma, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia among others were present during the meeting.

In the meeting, YOB sought the solidarity and presented the country report and proposed immediate start of repatriation process for the Bhutanese refugees, adopt reconciliation approach and pave ways for human rights and political organizations to participate in the ongoing democratic transition, and revisit the noble concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), according to the statement.

“In the meeting, President Giri also distributed the campaign materials and asked fellow attendees to strongly question the much hyped so called Gross National Happiness (GNH) Campaign of Royal Government of Bhutan vis-à-vis the generation of refugees with notorious census of 1988 targeted for ethnic cleansing of ethnic Nepali-speaking people living in the southern Bhutan,” the statement said.

Including 23-year-old monk student Sonam Tshering, 15 persons convicted of tobacco smuggling have been released this month following a royal pardon.

Tshering was arrested and detained on January 24 last year after he was caught with 48 packets of chewing tobacco that he purchased from India.

Later in May, a kangaroo court convicted him and passed a verdict slapping him a jail term of 3 years, and became the first tobacco criminal.

Gravity of punishment given to Tshering, who pleaded for his ignorance of tobacco law, received widespread criticism.

Even a Facebook revolt group consisting over 2500 members advocated for his release.

The Parliament had approved tobacco amendment proposal as an urgent bill last month.

Release of tobacco criminals came through a royal prerogative that allows the King to grant pardon to prisoners, assured by the so-called democratic constitution of the country under Article 2, Section 16 (C).