Resolution of Bhutanese refugee issue is tightly bound to India, says ACHR

Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) pointed out that more risks have erupted following the third country resettlement offer for exiled Bhutanese languishing in Nepal.

In a weekly review titled 'Opportunity or Threat: The US Resettlement Offer for the Bhutanese Refugees', ACHR said in accordance Bhutan’s State media on 21 February 2008, the Bhutanese security forces arrested eight people from the Nepali speaking minority in Bhutan.

They were detained in connection with a series of bombings apparently aimed at disrupting the forthcoming elections. The Bhutanese security forces claimed that the detained persons are members of the Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) — a group blamed for 4 February 2008 explosion in Bhutan's southwest and four other blasts across the country in January 2008. The Human Rights Organization of Bhutan (HUROB) on the other hand claimed that the Bhutanese security forces also brutally killed four persons belonging to Nepali minority and the whereabouts of the eight arrested persons are not known.

ACHR review further stated that the Bhutan Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) (BCP) and the Bhutan Tiger Force (BTF) are two increasingly visible armed groups, adding "one clear risk is that further armed resistance will provoke a stronger security response from the Bhutanese government. If Bhutan were to use the ‘fight against terror’ as a cover for a wider political project it would not be the first government to do so".

"The resettlement offer has already brought to the surface existing tensions within the camps and in Bhutan that have led to violence. While many individual refugees see the offer as an opportunity, influential political groupings amongst the Bhutanese refugee community vehemently oppose third country resettlement. Many political groups have responded negatively to the resettlement offer. They see it as a conspiracy to undercut the goal of return to Bhutan and to undermine the will to seek the fundamental political changes in Bhutan that would make return possible", reads the ACHR weekly review.

ACHR has also stated that the resolution of the Bhutanese refugee issue was tightly bound to India. "India put the fleeing Bhutanese refugees on trucks and lorries, dumped inside Nepalese territory and ever since protected Bhutan diplomatically", reads the review, adding that no government was prepared to expend valuable political influence with India on an issue that has little or no discernible direct interest for the concerned state.

ACHR said the Core Group's haste to proceed with resettlement to the US and the lack of visible efforts by the US to press for a comprehensive solution has been taken by Bhutanese refugees as a symbol as to where US priorities lie.

ACHR has argued that resettlement is a generous offer but should be part of a comprehensive solution. 

An estimated one hundred eight thousands Bhutanese refugees are languishing in eastern districts of Nepal for the last 17 years.