Around one hundred exiled Bhutanese languishing in eastern Nepal have begun hunger strike in Beldangi from Wednesday demanding official registration and refugee identity cards.
According to them, although the UN Refugee Agency has already taken their photographs their ID cards haven’t been issued to them even after months.
“They took our photographs back in 2012. However, we are still without ID cards,” one of the women leaders, San Maya Gurung, told Bhutan News Service.
One of the hunger strikers, Rukmani Neupane, 81, lamented that she has been long awaiting her ID card despite of the fact that her husband, Hom Neupane, and son, Krishna Neupane, have already been resettled in the third country.
The group also claimed that some 1641 exiled Bhutanese are without official registration and ID cards.
They have vowed to continue their strike until the concerned authorities meet their demands.
Reported by Dikesh Lama from Jhapa, Nepal for BNS
