Tshering Tobgay, a Member of Parliament representing Sombaykha Constituency in Haa and the Leader of the Opposition party in the National Assembly, has criticized Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley for speaking on the favor of exiled Bhutanese.
Just a few days after the Prime Minister reiterated the government’s position in accepting “genuine citizens” for repatriation, OL Tobgay flayed PM’s statement.
“I fail to see the logic in the prime minister’s statement. How can he commit to repatriate people if we now don’t have any basis of even identifying whether a person is a genuine Bhutanese or not?” Tobgay, who is also a top ranking blogger in the country, wrote in his blog Tuesday.
However, his explanation on bringing the longstanding refugee imbroglio to a logical conclusion has clearly depicted his “childish political ideology”. Indeed, a few comments posted on his post did explain his “political maturity level”.
According to his claim, repatriation is no longer possible stating that acceptance of some citizens was a genuine possibility 10 years ago, but even then, only if the verification process was honest and complete.
“That didn’t happen. Now it’s more than 20 years since people settled in the camps, plus most of them have opted to resettle in third countries. If repatriation was not possible 10 years ago, in spite of the best efforts of the governments of Bhutan and Nepal, I don’t see how the prime minister can even talk about it as a possibility now,” he wrote.
Without accepting the responsibility of his People’s Democratic Party in pressurizing the House to resolve the refugee crisis in a moral ground, Tobgay, however, thanked the international community for accepting exiled Bhutanese for resettlement.
He also remembered to accuse citizens in exile of preferring to resettle in the third countries.
“I am grateful for, and support resettlement in third countries, especially since the people in the camps themselves prefer to settle in third countries,” added he.
Meanwhile, he said his party would also support honest dialogue between the governments of Nepal and Bhutan to consider “workable ways” of bringing closure to the refugee problem. However, he didn’t elaborate.
Should you wish to comment on his position on repatriation, he can be reached at [email protected].
