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6.07.2007
BHUTAN: Refugee Problem- End Game? Update No. 64
By Dr. S.Chandrasekharan
Despite violent protests, internal differences and Nepal making yet another effort to talk to Bhutan to establish the "right to return" of the refugees, the stage is set for the bulk of the refugees getting settled in third countries. In all, about 85,000 refugees are being accommodated by countries like U.S.A., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Denmark and more offers are likely to follow. However, the problem for Bhutan or India cannot be said to have been solved finally as what is left behind will be the hard core radicals who are likely to create more problems for Bhutan and even for the innocent Nepalese in southern Bhutan who have remained unaffected by the refugee crisis.Too late in the day when the international community finally intervened to settle the issue, India has woken up to find a solution! What was a trilateral one has now become an international issue!
Strange but true that India finally admitted that the refugee problem is not a bilateral one. On 9th June, the External Affairs Minister, Shri. Pranab Mukherji after an hour long meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister told the Press that the refugee issue is an "international problem" and that the Government of India was trying to work out a solution.
Just a few days prior to this statement the Ministry of External Affairs on 1st June made a formal press release that said -"the subject of exiled Nepalese living in Nepal was a bilateral issue between Nepal and Bhutan and that India was hopeful that both countries would be able to resolve the humanitarian problem soon through the talks."
To begin with, the problem was never a bilateral one. The refugees who were evicted from southern Bhutan sought refuge in India but the Indian authorities forcibly took them in their trucks and dumped them across the border in Nepal. With over 80 Km of Indian space separating southern Bhutan from Nepal, it could never have been a bilateral problem. Second and more important, India was bound by special relations with both countries and it should have taken the lead to facilitate the talks and find an amicable solution.
The External Affairs Minister is now saying that repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees would cause a demographic imbalance in Bhutan as if this was not known when the refugees were evicted from southern Bhutan. When millions of illegal migrants from Bangladesh could be accommodated with official patronage from some quarters in India, it would have been easy for India to absorb them into the Indian mainstream and the refugees would also have agreed to the settlement. India never looked at it as a humanitarian problem but as a political one to be settled between Nepal and Bhutan.
Instead, for sixteen years and fifteen rounds of talks, not a single Bhutanese citizen has returned to Bhutan and what is worse both Nepal and Bhutan are continuing the charade of embarking on an another round of talks to settle the issue once and for all. Meantime, the restless youths who saw no future in the camps are now determined to fight for their right to return to Bhutan. They are also threatening and intimidating to prevent other refugees from opting for third country settlement.
Late Indian Prime Minister, P.V.Narasimha Rao while commenting on the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal was said to have remarked that he was only worried about the crisis getting radicalised and internationalised. This is exactly what has happened now. With India taking an Ostrich like attitude, Nepal continuing to be indifferent and Bhutan being stubborn, the refugees had no option but to internationalise the issue and with the emergence of the Maoists as a major force in Nepal, radicalisation of the refugee crisis was inevitable.
By continuing with their agitation to cross the border at the Mechi bridge into India and then on to Bhutan resulting in a serious law and order situation with the security forces opening fire in end May, the refugees succeeded in getting Indias attention and forced the Indian Government to work out a solution. The Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya admitted that the stalemate in the refugee crisis has created a law and order problem in the State. Credit should be given to those poor refugee families from all the camps who braved the sun and rain to go all the way to the Mechi bridge to protest and get arrested!
The flip side to the whole issue is that the moderate faction amongst the refugee leaders who were confident of succeeding by continuing with the Satyagraha first in Goldhop camp and later in other camps have been swept aside and the initiative has gone over to activists who go by the name of Maoists, Bhutan Tiger Force or War & Peace Group in the camps.
Since the last few months, cadres affiliated to the Bhutan Communist party (MLM) have been actively and openly recruiting the refugee youths. The offer of third country settlement by the Unites States and other western countries was a "godsend" to them and they not only took the initiative to oppose the settlement but used strong arm methods to intimidate those who were willing for third country settlement. Events came to a head in the last week of May when two groups one opposed and the other for third country settlement clashed. The Police had to intervene resulting in the death of one of the refugees. Police had to open fire again the next day when the refugees protested over the killing of the refugee.
Earlier the Maoist activists prevented UNHCR representatives from holding consultations within the camps on the question of resettlement. Camp secretaries who were canvassing for resettlement were threatened.
Bhutanese authorities have reported apprehending eleven people inside Bhutan who had registered themselves as members of the Communist Party (Maoist) of Bhutan and were carrying registration forms and pamphlets. An improvised explosive device was said to have been discovered beneath a culvert on the Phuentsoling- Thimphu road.
To us it looks like the beginning of an insurgency in southern Bhutan.
The US Ambassador to Nepal made a one day visit to the camps and explained the procedure of resettlement. He made the following points.
1. He conceded that resettlement is not the best option for the refugees.
2. The OPE ( Overseas Processing Entity) will open an office in July in Jhapa and Kathmandu.
3. It will take a minimum of six months for the whole process to start.
4. The refugees will not be settled in any refugee camp as such in USA but will be taken care of non governmental organsations. The option for repatriation will continue to be available.
5. Families will not be separated and where possible other relatives will be settled in the same place.
6. Each refugee family will be sponsored by a non governmental organisation that will provide initial housing, basic furniture, food and clothing. It will also help to find jobs and enroll the children in the schools.
7. After one year the refugees may apply for permanent status and after another five years they can become citizens.
Once the process of resettlement gets going, it looks that many of the refugees who have concerns about the future of their children would prefer to go for resettlement instead of staying behind to continue the battle for repatriation.
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