Bhutan: Today and Tomorrow

2006-06-13T09:05:39+02:00

Situation in Bhutan that compelled the citizens to flee

Rise of state terrorism and eviction of people from Bhutan
Very little is written in words about the early history of Bhutan. A limited number of history books are written through studies based on the present context.

There was no fixed Bhutanese boundary until 1910. Various small principalities under leadership of their heads fought to expand or lose their power. In 1864, after the war with British, the Bhutanese ( then known as bhoties) were isolated to the mountain terrians of the himalayas,the present Bhutan. While Bhutanese side lost more than one third of the land including Kalimpong, 10 dours, Dewangiri etc, to the British, the Britishers promised a compensation as annual allowance to Bhutan. While one third of the land and a huge population fell into Britishers hand, Nepli villages of samchi, Dorokha and Chirang remained inside the new boundary of Bhutan. When the borders were first inked, there were people of different ethnicity and race. These group of people lived together with minimum visible interference until the sporadic moment against the policies of the government rose from southern Bhutan in 1990s. The royal attempt to supress the protest quitely and at bud stage failed and the intensified use of army let to abortion of the people from the south, who have now become refugees in India and Nepal.

Observation today
The origin of the 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in camps in Nepal is directly related to the struggle for demographic balance in Bhutan. Bhutan has 3 major ethnic groups, namely Sharchops, Lhotsampas and Ngalongs and more than 14 minor tribes and indigenous people. Sharchops (people of the east) live in the remote eastern mountainous areas, believed to have migrated from Indo Burma region around 8th century. They speak Tsangla dialect; believe in Nyngmapa (Yellow hat) sect of Buddhism. Majority of them are illiterate and economically backward. They are believed to be the majority in Bhutan by many writers.

Until 1990, second in majority were the Lhotsampas (people of south), who occupied the countries narrow tracts of plain and foothills of the Himalayas. They were believed to have migrated from Nepal and neighboring India during 7th, 17th to 20th century. They speak Nepali, follow Hinduism. They were economically better than other group by virtue of fertile land they possessed. They were fast to grab the opportunity of education in the country.

The third in the majority are he Ngalongs who constitute the ruling class. They occupy the North West part of the country. They speak Dzongkha, a derivative of Tibetan language, follow Kargyupa (red hat) sect of Buddhism and are believed to have migrated from Tibet ( a present China) after 17th century.

Bhutan as a country got the regional recognition in 1910, three years after Sir Ugyen Wangchuck was announced the first king of Bhutan, through a friendship treaty between British colonized India and Bhutan. For the national security, the policy of isolation and non involvement in the conflict was opted. In 1949, two years after India got independence from British colony, Bhutan renewed the treaty of 1910. Following it, the boundaries of Bhutan with India were demarcated. While Bhutan lost some land in the west from the river Jaldhaka to the river Testa to India, three villages of Samchi, Tala and Chirang where the ethnic Nepalese lived in large numbers fell within the Bhutan’s border. In the course of forty years the people from the three centers spread to 3 more districts of South through the Bhutanese monarch’s policy of resettlement to protect the border and increase revenue through tax. The friendship and brotherhood between the people within Bhutan was praise worthy. Various ethnic groups and peoples have lived in perfect communal, religious and ethnic harmony for centuries in Bhutan. Never before, any instance of ethnic conflict, communal or religious clash at the people’s level had occurred in Bhutan, which has become the hallmark of many South Asian nations and destroyed the very basic fabric of democracy in these countries. Tolerance, co-operation and compromise, had been the basic values of Bhutanese society.

When the population in the West bulged production in the mountains lowered and the employment became competitive, the Ngalongs began to settle in the large empty lands in the South. The competition between the Ngalongs and Lhotsampas began on all the fields. 70s and 80s saw this competition inside the country and democratic moments were waving in the region. Bangladesh was created. Nepal was fighting for democracy. Sadly independent monarchies of Sikkim and Manipur were captured by India, Tibet was taken by China.

The possible fear of losing the reign of rule entered into the Ngalongs, the elite ruling class. It was a long standing and intrinsic ruling elites' security perception that the domestic demand for political change (democracy) would come from the Lhotsampas in the south. The south is bordered by the democratic India. Moreover, the Lhotsampas were economically well-off and more educated than their counterparts in the north and east. The northern borders with China are closed. In order to pre-empt the demand for democracy, the government devised a clever strategy to depopulate the Lhotsampas from southern Bhutan. Hence, the Lhotsampas suddenly became the geopolitical scapegoats and security threat to the absolute monarchy. They began to use their virtue of being the ruler to reduce the Lhotsampas population. They started the process of integration of Lhotsampas into Ngalongs culture through the “One nation one people” policy. (Web: http://www.geocities.com/bhutaneserefugees/onenation.html ). It failed. The award of incentive for inter-marriage did not work. Then the government brought out policy of “Green belt” according to which one kilometer from the border in the south were to be planted with tress. People falling into this belt would be given compensation in cash to buy land else where outside Bhutan. Majority of the Lhotsampas lived in this belt, (web: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20011028/spectrum/book2.htm and http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/18/regions/s5.html). If implemented it would have made one third of Lhotsampas landless, but the donor countries finding the foul policy decided not to aid the plan. Again it failed.
The Census team armed with the totally discriminatory and biased mandate set out to determine the citizenship status of all Lhotsampas by randomly categorizing them into seven categories, i.e., F1 to F7, which affected status of many citizens.
F1: Genuine Bhutanese.

F2: Returned migrants, i. e., people who had left Bhutan and then returned.

F3: Drop-out cases, i.e., people who were not around at the time of the census.

F4: A non- national woman married to a Bhutanese man.

F5: A non-national man married to a Bhutanese woman.

F6: Adoption cases. This clause was massively misused by the government to include
Indian citizen of Ngalong ethnicity. Many Ngalongs having Indian nationality were enlisted as adoption case by the government.

F7: Non -national, i.e., migrants and illegal immigrants.
Only F1 was declared genuine Bhutanese. Widespread panic and confusion among the Lhotsampas women followed as Census officials began to threaten deportation of anyone not categorized as F1. Officially, the 1988 census implemented the Citizenship Law, 1985, with its three methods of attaining citizenship: by having two Bhutanese parents, by registration of residence since 1958 and by naturalization. In practice, however, naturalization has not been accepted. The census exercise provided justification to expel people who no longer met government criteria on citizenship, (Web Search: http://www.geocities.com/bhutaneserefugees/cultural_cleansing.html). In many cases, citizenship cards already issued were withdrawn. The village Headmen and the Member of National Assembly (MPs) formerly considered knowledgeable and authoritative were never consulted. Some of them were even reprimanded when they raised their voices. The illiterate and innocent villagers were coerced into signing documents, the contents of which were not known to them. The whole census exercise were planned to harass and eliminate the actual and true ethnic Lhotshampa citizens of southern Bhutan to reduce their numbers.The history of the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa dates back to around 1625 A.D., much older than the present ruling Wangchuck Dynasty (1907), which is just 100 years old. In the name of eviction of illegal immigrants the government started deporting the genuine southern Bhutanese. People who had no involvement in the protest were made to sign voluntary migration forms, made to smile and receive money before camera as the compensation for their land and were asked to leave.
The NOC or Police clearance certificate forms were made mandatory to join schools, services, operate private business, to buy important commodities like salt and to travel. These were not issued to the Lotshampas. All the schools, hospitals, irrigation, drinking water facilities, veterinary centers located in the south were closed and services withdrawn. Thousand of Lhotsampa students studying in other parts of the country were denied NOC and subsequent admission in the schools and colleges. The people in the government services, armed force were removed from their posts.

These people begged asylum in India. Instead of giving asylum to them the Indian police arrested them and deported into Nepal. Now they are living in refugee camps in Nepal. Those registered in the UNHCR run camps get nominal food, clothing and health care. Thousand of people who could not make their way straight to UNHCR screening Post, those afraid to face them out of fear and ignorance or those who reached there late, after the screening post was closed down, are still loitering in India, Nepal and in and around refugee camps suffering a miserable inhuman life.

Government of Nepal and Bhutan made 15 rounds of fruitless ministrial dialogue but could not make Bhutan take back her evicted citizens. Nepal is undergoing a state of civil war within itself and is imposing difficult laws and policies on the refugees.

Life in the camp is worse than the life in prison. The refugees are not allowed to do any work of income generation within camp and they are not allowed to work outside. (Web: http://www.innercitypress.com/icg031406.html ) If found outside camp doing any business, their supply of basic needs are cut off for always and on the other hand they will be arrested and deported into the camps.

These days the Travel documents for the refugees to travel outside Nepal is stopped. This will indirectly make people congregate in the camp and lead to hostile moments against Bhutan

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Bhutan and her unwanted people

Bhutan: Today and Tomorrow