Refugee Issue And Media Campaign

TP Mishra
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With incidents of violence escalating inside the Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal, exiled journalists living there have repeatedly reported facing ‘trouble’ due to threats from the local authorities.

Safety
The Bhutanese media sector operating in exile in Nepal has long faced pressure, internal intimidation and an unfavorable working environment in exercising their right to provide information. With the rise in disputes inside the refugee camps, journalists, who are working voluntarily, have started fearing for their safety and security while reporting stories in the camps.

The Bhutanese refugees inside the camps are in one way or the other deprived of their right to information. This is most unfortunate as every individual’s right to information is safeguarded under his fundamental rights. In addition, journalists working on their behalf for promoting the individual’s right to information are being intimidated. More than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepali ethnic origin now live in camps in eastern Nepal.

Intimidation
The arrest of Bhola Siwakoti, general secretary of Bhutan Press Union, by the Nepalese Police on October 9 without furnishing any reasons, is an instance of how the local administration treats exiled Bhutanese journalists.

Besides, the Armed Police Force (APF) personnel based near the Bhutanese refugee camp at Beldangi-I have asked Arjun Pradhan, correspondent of Bhutan News Service (BNS), the only news agency run by refugee journalists, to sign a register kept at the base camp each day. Is this not harassment of independent journalists? This was done simply to harass Pradhan after he reported that an innocent refugee youth of Beldangi-I camp was killed in police firing on December 9. Journalists in the camps are in no mood to ‘compromise’ with the unnecessary and illogical harassment by the local authority.

With the passage of time, there has been much confusion among the refugees in the camps. No authority – individual or organisation – can put an end to this state of confusion without providing accurate information to the people. It must be considered that the systematic method of disseminating accurate, reliable and justifiable information can never be done without the support of the media groups.

There is always a need for Bhutanese organisations in exile, aid agencies, the local administration and individuals to extend all kind of support to the journalists and their organisations in exile for creating an atmosphere in the camps where the people can be well informed of what is going on. Only then can the long-standing Bhutanese imbroglio end with an amicable solution.

With the division among the Bhutanese refugees, journalists in exile are receiving threats from many quarters, including the refugees themselves. This does not seem ‘fair’ when there is a provision to safeguard the fundamental rights of individuals that include the right to information.

The press bodies formed in exile for the cause of establishing complete media freedom, freedom of speech and expression in Bhutan are ready to sacrifice many things for the sake of promoting the people’s right to information.

Media organisations working in exile – Bhutan Press Union (BPU), Third World Media Network – Bhutan Chapter, Association of Press Freedom Activists – Bhutan had brought out a joint declaration on October 20. All of them have agreed to work under the banner of the BNS. This implies that independent journalists in exile are thereafter associated with the BNS.

Harassment inflicted on any independent Bhutanese journalist working in exile would be an ‘attack’ on the BNS. This would adversely affect the smooth functioning of the news agency that at the moment has been one of the major sources of information for the global community and the authorities concerned as it runs all types of media including print and electronic.

Thus, the authorities concerned, including international press bodies, should urgently try to create a conducive atmosphere for Bhutan’s journalists in exile so that they can work in an independent way. They should be able to believe that they are working in a safe and dignified environment.

Media campaign
Undoubtedly, media campaigns can be an effective means to highlight the refugees’ plight. The role of the independent media during Jana-Andolan II in Nepal serves as a good example. Therefore, Bhutan’s independent journalists working in exile and their media organisations should not be allowed to be intimidated by anyone or any quarter.

A Mother’s Long Journey

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It is certain that you would feel astonished if you luckily happen to meet her and other family members in a small-congested room in Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu – this is because her family is eagerly waiting for January 7, the scheduled-date to depart for Norway and begin a new life. A Bhutanese woman along with five other 6-16 years old finally took bold decision to opt Third Country Resettlement (TCR) offer despite being single to lead the whole family.

Suk Maya Rai, 32 of Beldangi-II, Sector I/3-22 succeeded after six years of her necessary processing for TCR. Suk Maya weepingly laments that she was compelled to apply it after her 8-year-old daughter was raped. Not much assumed about the possible struggling life in a new country, Suk Maya is confident that her five children will have bright future after the Norwegian government educates them as assured by the UNHCR before taking-off the flight from Nepal.

Whether or not the assurances given by the authorities would thump on a stand of reality, she is optimistic that the Norwegian government would look after her family completely for five years. Suk Maya on one hand is happy with her decision; however, she immediately pours flashes of ‘sadness’ when evoking her days in Bhutan.
She talked to us before her departure to Norway. She has recently flew.

Why you decided to opt the offer of TCR?
As my daughter was rapped, I wandered here and there in search of authorities that can extend support for her medical treatment. Later, when CVICT Nepal diagnosed that my daughter had sustained severe injury she was also getting mentally disturbed. During her treatment period, while in Kathmandu after seven days of her rape case, two sisters (officials) from the UNHCR extended their full cooperation and support.
After my arrival in camps, UNHCR officials inquired me if I was still facing any problems. I informed them that the community began neglecting our family. The UNHCR repeatedly made inquiries if I was interested to opt for the solution that it would furnish.

As my husband had a second marriage, I thought the way UNHCR was supporting me would lead my children’s future to a brighter atmosphere. So, I was then informed of the fact that the Norwegian government was willing to accept my vulnerable family.

Who decided that you are to go to Norway?
It is not me but the UNHCR that decided it.

How did you feel when you left your temporary hut in camps?
I really felt sad to leave my dwelling place, though temporarily habituated, because when we left Bhutan I had experienced same thing and now I am supposed to leave Nepal. I was really finding difficult to tolerate it as I left my community without any information due to fear of being intimidated.

Are you given cultural orientation classes?
Not much. I am just informed that our life would go easier as like that of Norwegian people after sometime. They also told me that I will have to struggle a bit to fit the Norwegian way.

Will you have to pay air ticket charge?
As I fall under most vulnerable group, I will not have to pay such charges. The UNHCR has informed me that the Norwegian government will bear my expenses.

Any thing at last?
Many people in camps are intimidated by third parties not to openly advocate or opt for TCR. This is a sad part. Let individuals decide their future. Bhutan is not going to start repatriation process soon. More or less, we experienced the fact that democracy is hard to be achieved unless we do something. It is not that those opting TCR will forget Bhutan.

It may not be an easier outlet, as Suk Maya thinks, to get fit in a western society at once because she lacks cultural and other necessary orientation classes. The confidence that Suk Maya still posses to see bright future of her five children by pursuing them higher and better education is yet another part to offer her with a ‘Bhutanese-cultured-salute’ though he studied up to grade III.

“There is no doubt that I will immediately return to Bhutan when dignified repatriation process starts”, says Suk Maya with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Suk Maya’s undefined journey from the ‘Last Shangri-la’ to Nepal, and then to Norway comes to an ending point only when she, as wishes, gets back to Mechaytar under Samtse district in Bhutan one day.

Atrocities and 2008 elections in Bhutan

TP Mishra
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At a time when the election date is drawing nearer in Bhutan, the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) has once again begun inflicting atrocities on innocent citizens of ethnic Nepali origin.

The state-directed court recently announced jail terms ranging from 5-9 years to 30 innocent civilian from the southern district of the country for their alleged involvement in the Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist). The RGOB claims the accused had carried out subversive activities against Bhutan.

How could the RGOB claim such a thing when it does not have an ‘independent judiciary’ in the country? A fair trial in the name of delivering justice to the detainees has always been a farce in the context of Bhutan. This is yet another instance of Bhutan’s tactics to derail the repatriation of Bhutanese refugees, now living in camps in Nepal, to their homeland.

Bhutan’s official media, Kuensel, further stated that seditious meetings were held in Katarey and Ugyentse in Samtse, during which the participants planned to recruit the local people and set up camps in the forests to house the terrorists belonging to the CPB-MLM.

Such fabricated statements are made by the Bhutanese government when its army arrests people especially of ethnic Nepali origin. The RGOB has charged them of being active during briefing sessions in Nepal on “Political and Ideological Trainings? conducted by the cadres of the Communist Party of Bhutan and Communist Party of Nepal, Bhutan People’s Party, Druk National Congress and Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front.

Ironically, the message Bhutan is sending to the international community is that the UNHCR is providing shelter to radical groups inside the refugee camps in Nepal.

The court is said to have sentenced them to jail under the provisions in the National Security Act of Bhutan, 1992, and the Penal Code of Bhutan, 2004. The people were accused of holding political meetings, especially related to Maoist ideology, in the country. Even if they were involved in such activities, what crime had they committed to be given jail terms of such long periods, especially at a time when the elections are fast approaching near? Is this, in any way, to hold a ‘democratic exercise’?

The RGOB, on the other hand, should have been encouraging the people in the country to get involved in the political exercise. Besides, the condition of hundreds of such detainees arrested in the early 1990s during demonstrations in the country is still unknown to the international community.

Their whereabouts have not yet been made public. There is no one to publicise the conditions prevailing in the country.

It is a matter of shame that the RGOB should transform civilians into jailbirds for such a long period despite their innocence. The atrocities of the RGOB have crossed the limits, leaving enough space to raise questions about the effectiveness of the advocacy of international rights bodies and so-called big democracies of the world.

Isn’t Bhutan playing with the rights of the people, and would anyone believe that it is embarking on the path of democratisation? The surprising thing is – for how long will the international community stand mute spectators to all the atrocities that go around in Bhutan?

A fair trail to the detainees is not possible in Bhutan. Even if these people belong to the Maoist militia, then Bhutan should have carried out an investigation in co-ordination with international human rights bodies.

In the meantime, on November 28, the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) stated that the leaders of the Bhutan People’s United Party (BPUP) have no vision, goals and aspirations for a democratic Bhutan. Besides, in a notice, the ECB said it cannot register the BPUP as a political party in the country.

The ECB’s decision indicates that the party lacks persons with direct links with the royal family like Sangey Ngedup of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Jigme Thinley of the Druk Phuensum Tshokpa (DPT).

While Bhutan is holding the first-ever elections in its history, the RGOB is trying to impose different restrictions on innocent civilians. Thus, there is little room to believe that the elections will be free and fair.

There is a need for the world community, including international human rights bodies, to initiate noteworthy and stronger measures to provide justice to Bhutan’s innocent civilians. The RGOB shouldn’t be given a free hand in committing atrocities against its people.

Third Country Resettlement : How Durable For The Refugees?

TP Mishra
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Third Country Resettlement : How Durable For The Refugees?

Finally, the America’s offer of third country resettlement has given rise to a lot of debate. Despite several attempts by the refugees to oppose it, the US and some western countries seem committed to expediting the process of resettlement latest by early 2008.

Besides the formation of a core group comprising 14 of the world’s biggest democratic countries, the Overseas Processing Entity (OPE), one of the latest concepts in backing up the process of third country resettlement, is planning to set up its office at Jhapa and in Kathmandu in July.

This very information was revealed by two senior US officials, Lawrence Barlett and Janice S. Belz – assistant directors of the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the U.S. government – during their interaction with the refugees at Goldhap camp on April 25.

Faction
Since the time when the third country resettlement package was brought up, it provoked factions among the refugees – individual opinions can be distinctly seen divided into different groups.
Literate youths among the Bhutanese refugees favor third country resettlement. The other elderly, illiterate groups want to get repatriated as they say they have worked hard and sweated a lot to bring Bhutan into its present state.

Not only this, a section of the people living inside the refugee camps have already obtained Nepalese citizenship certificates. They were able to obtain Nepali citizenship after the government of Nepal decided to issue citizenship certificates to four million people prior to the constituent assembly (CA) polls. This ironically leaves a clear message that a portion of the refugees are even willing to get locally assimilated.

Meanwhile, it is still a matter of doubt whether those refugees, who have already obtained Nepalese citizenship certificates, would qualify for third country resettlement. More interestingly, this verity would also be a tool for creating internal divergence among the refugees if those, who have already possessed Nepalese citizenship identity card, get a chance to opt for resettlement prior to those without citizenship cards.

Majority of the so-called frontline leaders in exile, most of the political and a few apolitical organizations have been frequently opposing the offer of third country resettlement, claiming it would not help furnish complete justice to the suppressed Bhutanese people. Since there is divided opinion among the individuals, the question of reaching a common consensus is difficult. People inside the camps are quite confused and do not know whether to apply in advance for this offer as they are little informed of its procedures.

When such fact-based points are fresh at hand, opening the ‘single option’ for refugees would be a bleak step. Not only third country resettlement, the concerned authorities should work towards unlocking all possible options, including repatriation to their original homeland, Bhutan. The long-standing issue will get a safe landing only when all possible options are opened.

Criteria and procedures
The obvious question at this hour is: why are those countries that are wishing to resettle the refugees not making transparent all the criteria and other necessary procedures before the resettlement process begins? At least a dozen refugee families have already been resettled in Canada in the recent months, but the authorities concerned haven’t yet made their status public.

On the other side, the UNHCR is reportedly learnt to have been selecting families in the camps in recent days to begin the process for third country resettlement. However, it has refused to reveal the criteria for their selection. Actually, why can’t such steps be carried out in an open and transparent way?

The refugees should not be deprived of their basic human right to access to adequate information on any options coined. And, this should be more precisely done in a transparent way.

Meanwhile, it is equally necessary to note that any options, what they be, shouldn’t be made a ‘compulsory option’ for the refugees by citing unfeasibility of other possible options.

Even Nepal has flashed a green light for allowing these refugees to get resettled. If Nepal by doing so wants to eliminate the Bhutanese refugee problem from the country, then it must be mentioned here that dignified repatriation should also be promoted at any cost. Otherwise, what would be the future of those refugees who want to get repatriated? Thus, it is a matter of essence that Nepal publicise its official stance at the earliest to bar ideological divergence among the refugees.

Sentiment
It is a fact that options besides third country resettlement – dignified repatriation and local integration – are, with the flow of time, getting less prominence. If the authorities concerned are truly committed to finding a durable solution to the Bhutanese refugee stalemate and embracing and supporting them, then promoting the refugee’s sentiment is a must.

Financial hardship for Bhutan’s exiled media 

TP Mishra
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26,644

An estimated one sixth of the total Bhutanese population was forcibly evicted during the early 1990s and more than 100,000 are still languishing as refugees in UNHCR-run camps in Nepal and in various Indian states.

In order to keep the refugees informed about events in the camps and back in Bhutan, several media operations have been set up over the years, but most have failed through lack of money.

The problem is that those producing newspapers in the refugee camps, whether they are weekly, fortnightly or monthly, are barred from selling them in the local market. Nepalese law prohibits foreigners from running media organisations in the country. As a result, the local authorities continually put pressure on the refugee journalists to close their media operations down. This means that any newspapers that are published must be distributed ‘for private circulation only’. Even if the refugee journalists could sell their newspapers, those living in the camps could not afford the two Nepalese rupees because they lack any source of income.

The majority Nepali-speaking refugee community has been central to the efforts to establish private media in the camps; traditionally, they have been the driving force behind the print media in Bhutan.

The newspaper, Mukti, was set up in the early 1990s by the Bhutan People’s Party under the editorship of Hari Adhikari. Manav Adhikarko Chirharan was published by the Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan in 1991 and The Bhutan Focus was published by the Students Union of Bhutan in 1990. However, these newspapers simply served as the mouthpieces of the organisations concerned.

The Sandesh, a weekly professional paper had a short life span. It was edited by B P Kasyap and began publishing in December 2000 but closed due to lack of funds in 2004.

The monthly, Shangrila Sandesh, was sponsored by The Rose Class with support from the London-based Photo Voice, and began its publication in 2001, however the print run ended when the sponsors quit without giving a reason in May 2003. Journalists on the paper have been unable to resume publication due to the lack of financial assistance.

Many of the sponsoring organisations, who vowed to promote independent media in the area, cite the refugee status of those producing the newspapers as the main reason for ending their support. However, some simply ended their funding without giving reasons.

The Bhutan Times, a weekly, edited by Sagar Rai, started its hardcopy publication from July 2000 but only survived for six months due to lack of funds. A paper with the same name was launched inside Bhutan on April 30, 2006.

A number of newspapers inside the Bhutanese refugee camps are waiting and eager to publish but they lack the funds to make publication a reality. These include The Bhutan Jagaran, Vidhyarthi Pratirodh and The Bhutan Reporter.

Another obstacle to the growth of media in the refugee camps is the lack of training for the volunteer journalists.

Kazi Gautam, Editor-In-Chief of The Bhutan Reporter says Bhutan’s exiled media situation is dying because of the lack of investment in resources and growth.

“International organisations who are committed to the promotion of the media should extend their support to Bhutan’s exiled media because the press situation inside Bhutan is strictly under the government control.”

Bhutan doesn’t allow any independent media organisations to operate inside the country. Organisations such as the Association of Press Freedom Activists (APFA) – Bhutan, Bhutan Press Union (BPU) and Third World Media Network (TWMN) – Bhutan Chapter have been established in exile in order to campaign and work towards media freedom and freedom of expression in Bhutan.

Each of these organisations works to support and promotion the exiled media as part of a drive to achieve complete press freedom and freedom of expression in the country. None is able to meet the needs of journalists in exile, such as offering training and helping with financial support. This is mainly because these press freedom organisations, which operate in the refugee camps, are also unable to raise adequate funds.

APFA News, a news portal launched by APFA – Bhutan last year, has been trying to cover all issues related to Bhutan and refugees. However, the editor-in-chief of the portal, I P Adhikari, says continuing to operate online is a real challenge because of rising Internet costs.

Despite these challenges, young volunteer journalists in exile are committed to their task of helping the refugees achieve their basic human right of access to information. They also want to play their part in the establishment of complete media freedom in Bhutan and serve the Bhutanese community both inside and outside the country.

Until the international community supports this effort, the prospects look bleak. And it wouldn’t take much to make a big difference, boost morale and give the volunteer journalists in the refugee camps a sense of hope.

If international press bodies were to open their doors to Bhutan’s media groups and embraced and supported them in their aims, that would, at least, be a start.

(The writer, T P Mishra, is president of Third World Media Network – Bhutan Chapter and the editor of the Bhutan News Service (BNS) and chief coordinator for Helping Hand – Bhutan (a social organisation). He is also the winner of Bhutan’s journalist of the year award, 2006.)

Source: www.mediahelpingmedia.org

State of media in Bhutan

TP Mishra
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Bhutan’s remarks that it is heading towards democratisation are nothing short of an attempt to fool the international community. There can be no democracy until it guarantees freedom of press and freedom of speech and expression. The work of holding the first momentous election scheduled for 2008 has been going on in full swing. However, there are already reports from the different media that some 1,700 voters from the southern division of the country have been barred from enlisting in the voters? list. And there are no human rights institutions to scrutinise and speak for these suppressed voices. The government-controlled media will not relay the people’s voice.

Press laws
Not only this, Bhutanese natives are unable to attain uncensored news. Actually, Bhutan neither has any laws or rules regarding the press nor does it encourage private publications. The government officials censor all news to be published, broadcast or telecast. Even other programmes on the radio, television and most of the write-ups in the newspapers are administered by government. The government not only dampens private publications but also imposes serious penalty on such auditions.

The Bhutanese people have never demanded press freedom nor have they tried to bring out any private publication in the past. In was only after 1990 that autonomy of the press and right to information were considered. During the peaceful demonstration in the early 1990s, the Bhutanese people had press freedom among their top agenda. This shows that the Lhotshampas want to establish press freedom in Bhutan some day. The other interesting fact is that media professionals now working in the different media houses in Bhutan have received short-term journalism training from the Netherlands, Singapore, Britain and India.

Bhutan, in the name of allowing independent publications, has recently launched Bhutan Times and Bhutan Observer, so-called private newspapers. The former was launched on April 30, 2006 and the latter on June 2, 2006. The owner of both these newspapers claim that these are the latest private papers that have the declared objective of carrying those voices which are ignored by the state-owned weekly, Kuensel.

Kuensel was begun in 1960 by Bhim Bahadur Rai and Suk Man Rai in Nepali as a monthly, which was hand-written, from Kalimpong by Moni Printing Press. Later, the government took control of it. This shows that it was the Nepali-speaking people who sowed the seeds of a private media in Bhutan. It was Kuensel which played a significant role in extending indirect support to the government in evicting the southerners. And all the other newspapers are still under much government control.

Actually two publications by the name Bhutan Times and Bhutan Observer were published from the Bhutanese refugee camps – the former by Sagar Rai of Sanischare camp and the latter by Peoples? Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (PFHR-D). The launching of the newspapers inside Bhutan with the same names as those published from the refugee camps leaves a very clear message that the Druk regime doesn?t want to see the Lhotshampas getting involved in the media sector.

Radio service (NYAB Radio) in Bhutan started in November 1973 at the initiative of the youths who formed the National Youth Association of Bhutan (NYAB) led by a Royal family member. In 1979, the Royal Government of Bhutan, recognising the importance of radio for development communication, embraced the station under the Ministry of Communications. Then it started a three-hour programme every Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Bhutan introduced television only in 1999. Meanwhile, the government continues to impose restrictions on many TV channels that broadcast news. The banning of TV channels such as FTV, MTV, Zee News, Aaj Tak, Sun TV and Ten Sports in the middle of March 2005 puts a big question mark on Bhutan?s stance on press freedom.

During 1989-92, DANIDA and UNESCO invested a huge sum for improving the media in Bhutan. But it has all gone to waste. The Bhutanese people have never felt the presence of a private press. Currently, the radio broadcasts 12 hours a day with 1.5 hours of traditional music.

The recently released ?SAARC Human Rights Report-2006? also reveals the state of media in Bhutan. The report places Bhutan second in the SAARC Human Rights Violators Index 2006. Not only this, it reveals the unseen atrocities taking place inside Bhutan. This report, at a time when Bhutan claim it has high ?Gross National Happiness?, shows that the world community is simply a bystander to the gross violation of human rights in Bhutan.

Yet another special report regarding the state of Bhutanese media has been made public in the ?South Asia Press Freedom Report, 2005-2006?. The report was released by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), one of the international umbrella organisations, that aims to push governments to promote social justice and rights for journalists across the globe.

Press freedom
The Association of Press Freedom Activists (APFA) – Bhutan, an organisation established in the Bhutanese refugee camps, and other organisations such as Bhutan Press Union, Bhutan Media Society and Third World Media Network – Bhutan Chapter are struggling for complete freedom of the press and freedom of speech and expression in Bhutan.

It is clear that democracy and assurance of human rights in Bhutan can never foster until the Druk regime guarantees freedom of press. The media’s role in Nepal during Jan Andolan-II should serve as a good example for Bhutanese democrats.

Refugees or ready-made-terrorists?

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Bhutan’s foreign minister Khandu Wangchuk on December 27 has said that bringing back the “highly-politicized camp people” into Bhutan would mean importing ready-made-terrorists. It is learnt that while addressing the Druk parliament, Wangchuk claimed many in the UNHCR-sponsored camps are listed as both “refugees and Maoist members.”

Actually, these sorts of statements made by the Druk lords are the tactics to derail the repatriation process of Bhutanese refugees. Foreign minister Wangchuk is quoted as saying “a large number of people in the camps are supporting and joining the Maoist movement in Nepal”.

This makes us clear on the repatriation process that Bhutan never wanted to take back the refugees though it agreed to form a joint verification team. It also sends a clear message to Nepal and international community that the Druk regime wanted Nepal to settle the issue alone. Now Bhutan will blame Nepal if the situation as described by Wangchuk is real.

Bhutan’s well-planned tactics to divert the attention of the refugee plight is working. Although India knows it that the Druk dictator rendered the one-fifth of the population stateless, Bhutan employs, under the Indian guard, the propaganda to outweigh the repatriation process.

The recent statement terming the refugees as “ready-made-terrorists” is no exception, the trouble shooters continue to take the refugee repatriation process as just Nepali efforts rather than that of the international community.

The political exercise in the run up to the signing of Nepal’s Comprehensive Peace Accord was a means to influence Bhutanese refugees. It is too early for Bhutan to claim the involvement of Bhutanese refugees in Maoist activities. It must provide evidences, first. If the Bhutanese refugees are real ‘terrorists’, as claimed by the foreign minister of an absolute regime, why are the UNHCR and other international aid agencies rendering their assistance?

Bhutan should also learn a lesson that these refugees are victims of Bhutan’s ethnic cleansing. The lawless nation has no mantle to it otherwise.

During the early 1990s, when the Bhutanese were forcefully evicted, Bhutan imposed ‘Security Acts’ which resulted in gross violation of human rights. Hundreds of innocent people lost their lives. A number of them from Southern Bhutan were imprisoned and tortured. A number of them are still missing. The whereabouts of these detainees is still unknown. Women and young girls were raped by the security personnel.

The international community should help the refugees form probe commission to investigate into these atrocities. We are waiting for the moment to come. It takes time no matter how long it will be.

Can the Bhutanese foreign minister call the one-fifth of the total population terrorists? The foreign minister must tell the truth — how it deBhutanized the one-fifth of the population and why he calls them now terrorists. Does it mean that the Bhutanese have no right to voice against the discriminatory royal edicts?

A country run without constitution should see into what it has treated its citizens rather than terming the innocent refugees terrorists.

Bhutan has neither allowed human rights activists to set up its office, nor has any international human rights organization investigated the atrocities meted out to ethnic minorities. The freedom of press and expression is unknown to the Bhutanese nationals. The people are treated as subjects and the so called the largest democratic country continues to ignore the incidents of human rights violation. India has no right to advocate freedom and democracy so long as it protects an autocratic regime under its armpit.

The foreign minister of Bhutan has said that “the camps have been infiltrated by Maoist elements, and several radical parties like the Bhutan Communist Party, Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front and the Bhutan Revolutionary Students Union have been formed with the declared objective of carrying out an armed struggle to overthrow the government of Bhutan”.

It is worth mentioning here that Bhutan called “terrorists” are democrats and they have been fighting for their rights. Bhutan has to yield to democratic forces sooner than later. Bhutan must acknowledge the fact that the one-fifth of the population are looking for a peaceful transition of power from the king to the people.

The Bhutanese refugees believe in democracy, human rights and a peaceful means of fighting for their rights. It is also true but sad that Bhutan cannot ignore the plight of the refugees who are slowing dragging the Druk dictators to the international court of justice for the crimes they have committed in the early 1990s.

The Bhutanese leaders should admit that the crimes they have committed. They must pay due attention to resolve the refugee impasse. The delay in the refugee repatriation is not denying the refugees’ right to return Bhutan, but it is constricting the throat of the autocratic regime that continues to violate human rights and treats its citizens as mere subjects. The current propaganda that Bhutan will hold elections to elect parliamentarians is nothing but a hollow exercise to cover up the atrocities committed by the century-old autocratic regime.

The statement that the “refugees are ready-made-terrorists” is just an attempt to draw the attention of the international community. But it cannot easily ignore the atrocities meted out to the one fifth of the population simply calling terrorists when it knows how it evicted them. Bhutan must seek a peaceful solution to the refugee problem before it is too late.

The writer is President of the Third World Media Network-Bhutan Chapter
Originally published by The Kathmandu Post, December 29, 2006. 

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