HRF/14/00 Embargoed for 28 January 2000

BHUTAN’S THUNDER DRAGON MAY SEE REASON

The United States Assistant Secretary of State, responsible for the Population, Migration and Refugee Bureau, Ms Julia Taft visited Thimpu, the capital of the mountain kingdom of Bhutan, in the first half of January 2000. The visit to Thimpu was a follow up to her visit to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and the refugee camps in Jhapa, Nepal in October 1999. Ms Taft also met with officials of the Government of India in New Delhi, prior to her departure for Thimpu.

Little is known about her dialogue with the Bhutanese authorities. However, it is evident that the United States and others in the European Union are gradually coming to realise that a confluence of events that are presently in motion may bode ill for the continued existence of the land of the Thunder Dragon as a sovereign nation. The Taft visit was preceded by the visit of the Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr Knut Volleback to Kathmandu. Mr Volleback subsequently visited Thimpu. It is understood that he impressed upon his Bhutanese hosts the urgent need to resolve the long pending refugee problem.

Following these two visits, Thimpu appears to have moved from its sphinx like position. It is learnt that the ninth round of talks between Nepal and Bhutan are to be held soon in Thimpu. The Nepalese Foreign Minister has claimed that the next round of talks will hopefully identify the genuine refugees and initiate the process of repatriation.

The Bhutanese King is increasingly aware that he may have won the battle against ethnic Nepali and Sarchop dissidents who want greater democracy, but in the process, may be losing the bigger war for his nation’s sovereignty. The King’s release of Bhutan's most famous political prisoner, Mr Tek Nath Rizal on 17 December 1999 is seen by some as a gesture to retrieve some lost ground. Others perceive it as too little, too late. The King also gave a general amnesty to about 200 prisoners, out of whom 40 are reportedly political prisoners.

The latest challenge that Thimpu confronts is the situation arising out of the reported armed presence of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Bodo tribal insurgents in camps in Southern and Eastern Bhutan. The insurgent camps have been a thorn in the flesh for New Delhi and an unwelcome irritant in its relations with Thimpu. Bhutan can not police its borders to stop activity by members of the armed opposition groups. Thimpu has been loath to allow the presence of Indian military personnel on its soil as it would raise questions about its sovereignty. It has gained some breathing space as the Chinese have looked askance at a military version of Pax Indiana in Bhutan.

The Dzongkhas or Bhutanese District administrators have announced that anyone helping the ULFA or Bodos would be imprisoned for 12 years. The King reportedly met the ULFA Chief, Mr Paresh Barua on 15 October 1999 at Nichula Block Mondal, Kalikhola, Sarbhang district and asked the ULFA to vacate its bases in Bhutan. This has not evoked a response from ULFA. New Delhi's fears are yet to be allayed and pressure for a joint military operation looms large over Thimpu.

In the last decade, the exodus of Bhutanese subjects of ethnic Nepali origin from Bhutan into Nepal has been a bone of contention between Kathmandu and Thimpu. Although, both Royal families, in Kathmandu and Thimpu traditionally share cordial relations, the influx of over 90,000 refugees soured relations between Bhutan and Nepal, which in the meanwhile, had become a vibrant, multiparty democracy. The refugees initially crossed over to the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal. Indian authorities put them into trucks and dumped them in Nepal. India's requests to Nepal and Bhutan to resolve the issue bilaterally only ensured that Kathmandu and Thimpu talked at each other than to each other.

The Nepalis have been migrating to Bhutan for the last few centuries. However, it was only the anti-foreigners' agitation in the Indian state of Assam which heightened the nascent fears of the authorities in Thimpu of being demographically swamped. The role that the ethnic Nepalis had played in the events that led to the downfall of the Chogyal and the subsequent assimilation of Sikkim into India was a theme of recurrent nightmares for decision makers in Bhutan.

Consequent to the anti-foreigner agitation in Assam in 1979, the Bhutanese Government introduced the 1980 Marriage Act and 1985 Citizenship Act. The Government also introduced, Drighlam Namza, literally meaning the Bhutanese way of life. Under this program, wearing of Gho and Kira (traditional dress for men and women) were made compulsory. The ethnic Nepalis considered these attempts as cultural assimilation and protested. The controversial 1988 census to weed out the "illegal immigrants" turned into "Operation Nepali Expulsion". Ethnic Nepalis were asked to produce their immigration certificates before 1958 or be expelled. The ethnic Nepalis protested and Mr Tek Nath Rizal, a member of the Royal Advisory Council, submitted a memorandum to the King against such atrocities. Inspired by the fall of the King of Nepal, the ethnic Nepalis organised demonstrations in the streets, unheard of in Bhutan. The Bhutanese authorities started a massive crackdown in earnest. Over 90,000 ethnic Nepalis were expelled or forced to flee by 1991.

On 17 July 1993, the Bhutan-Nepal Joint Ministerial Level Committee (JMLC) was formed with a mandate to arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement on determining a classification system for the refugees living in the camps. During the first talks held in Kathmandu in October 1993, the following categories were created for identifying and classifying the refugees: (a) Bonafide Bhutanese who have been forcibly evicted; (b) Bhutanese who have emigrated; (c) Non-Bhutanese people and (d) Bhutanese who have committed criminal acts. Since then, bilateral discussions have made little headway. The European Parliament in a resolution in March 1996 called on the Governments of Bhutan and Nepal to come to a solution which would allow for the repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees. This had little effect. In 1999, the Chairman of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities called on both Nepal and Bhutan to resolve the problem in good faith. Yet, there has been little progress in bilateral discussions.

In 1997, Bhutan faced another challenge. The Sarchops, the second largest community have been smarting against domination by the ruling Drukpas. In early 1997, the Sarchops protested against the King by sticking pro democracy posters. A massive crackdown ensued. About 150 Sarchops who were allegedly suspected members or sympathisers of the Druk National Congress (DNC) led by a Sarchop dissident, Mr Rongtong Kunley Dorji were arrested during the crackdown.

Mr Dorji shuttled between Nepal and India for his democracy movement in Bhutan. Mr Dorji was arrested in New Delhi on 18 April 1997 by the Delhi Police at the office of the United Front for Democracy in Bhutan (UFD). He was arrested after Indian authorities received a request in December 1996 for Mr Dorji's extradition to Bhutan from Bhutanese authorities. Mr Dorji was alleged to have committed two crimes which were inscribed on his initial warrant in December 1996: failure to repay loans and offences against the state under the Bhutan's National Security Act. Although on bail presently, he still has to report to the Delhi Police twice a week.

On 26 June 1998, the King in a surprise move dissolved his 22-member cabinet and placed his royal edict or Kasho before the Tshogdu, the National Assembly on 26 June 1998. It was seen as an attempt to allay international concern in the wake of compulsory retirement of 219 Lhotsampa or ethnic Nepali employees on 13 January 1998 and the massive crackdown on the Sarchop areas.

Although, the Kasho was welcomed by many, more perceptive observers of the Bhutanese scene were quick to realise that its pretensions to "promotes even greater participation in the decision-making process" rang hollow. The Kasho institutionalises ancient Greece style democracy. The Tshogdu has 150-members, two-thirds of whom are chosen by the people and the rest are either nominated by the King or chosen by the clergy. Earlier, all cabinet members were selected by the King. Under the reforms announced in the Kasho, cabinet hopefuls nominated by the King are required to face a vote of confidence in the Tshogdu. But candidates for Cabinet posts "should be selected from among persons who have held senior government posts at the rank of Secretary to the Royal Government or above".

The Council of Ministers or Lhengye Shungtshog was formerly a body consisting of roughly 22 members presided over by the King. The Kasho reduced the size by half and "it should henceforth comprise of elected ministers and the members of the Royal Advisory Council". The Lhengye Shungtshog which was earlier responsible for the different sections of government "have complete executive powers" since the Kasho was ratified and the King "will only have to be kept informed on issues related to the country's security and territorial integrity."

The Kasho also recommended that the King "face a vote of confidence in the Assembly on a regular basis and that the Assembly ...have powers to force a royal abdication by a two-third majority." But the King is only required to step down in favour of the next-in-line to the throne, Crown Prince, Jigmye Gesar Wangchuk under the present circumstances.

The timing of the release of Mr Rizal was of some interest. Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Mrs Kusum Rizal, wife of Tek Nath Rizal stated that Mr Rizal had no immediate plans to come to Nepal and had sought an audience with the Bhutanese King. While little is known as to whether the King would deign to meet Rizal, his release has brought cheer amongst the Bhutanese refugees. The 64 dollar question remains as to whether any possible arrangement between the King and Rizal would satisfy the demands of the exile Bhutanese.

Yet, Bhutan has little comfort. The destruction of the Taktshang monastery in a fire in April 1998 was seen by the average Bhutanese as an augury of ill omen for Bhutan and the continuance of the monarchy. The new access to television and the internet has suddenly broken the seemingly secure cocoon of the average Bhutanese’s Shangri-La existence. He is aware that the air waves and winds bring ill tidings. Like King Canute, asking the waves to go back, has been of little avail. Realisation is slowly dawning that Dragons and Penlops as the feudal Bhutanese Barons are titled will belong to the cartoon strips that the Bhutanese average Jones watches so avidly on the idiot box if the King does not master his present trapeze act on the sub-continental geo-political circus.

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