The Bhutan National Democratic Party (BNDP) urged the international community to pressure Bhutan for finding an amicable solution of the Bhutanese refugee problem, and even termed the imbroglio as a ‘political issue’.
Issuing a press statement to laud the efforts of countries of resettlement in accepting 80,000 refugees from Nepal, its Acting President and Executive Chief Dr DNS Dhakal said the party also appreciated generosity of the western countries for resettling thousands of Bhutanese refugees.
Dr Dhakal said, “Third country resettlement is not an amicable solution. The people who have been denied citizenship and property rights in Bhutan are victims of gross violation of fundamental human rights as enshrined in 1949 UN convention. Therefore, the international community should press Bhutan to repatriate the remaining refugees.”
According to him, BNDP has considered the resettled refugees as the Non-Resident Bhutanese (NRB) and regarded that repatriation of willing refugees from the camps to Bhutan with honor and dignity, and recognition of the resettled Bhutanese as NRB would be a way forward for deriving an amicable solution of this political problem.
