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Kathmandu Saturday January 19, 2002 Magh 06, 2058.
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Bhutan’s state terrorism
By NARAYAN KATEL
One of the highlights of the 10th SAARC
Summit was the speech by the President of Sri Lanka who said that one has to first know
the root cause of a problem in order to address it comprehensively. President Chandrika
Kumaratunga said "To fight the wave of terrorism, it may not be sufficient to say
that we will hunt down the perpetrators of terror and their allies...We cannot encourage
and finance friendly terrorist organizations in one place and attempt to defeat others.
Double standards cannot work any more, and will not resolve the long-standing problem of
terrorism... Today I believe the challenge before us nationally and regionally, is to
recognize terror and political violence as the main enemy of modern society."
Terror was unleashed on the ethnic Nepali
people called Lhotshampas by the Royal Government of Bhutan through its ethnocentric One
People One Nation policy in 1990. The result of this policy of ethnic cleansing has been
the eviction of nearly 150,000 refugees to India and Nepal or 1/5 of the entire population
of the country. In no country‘s history has such a large portion of people been
uprooted from their homeland, with the eventual destruction of the community and its human
and social capital.
It may not be known to many outsiders that in
this process of ethnic cleansing and terrorism, Bhutan invited the ULFA insurgents of
Assam to terrorise the Lhotshampas and evict them out of their homeland in southern
Bhutan. Today Bhutan faces a threat to itself from this Frankstien monster that it
harbours in its territory.
Out of state terror the seeds of democracy
have grown. There are more than five political parties in exile demanding multi party
parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy and the revision of the One people
One Nation policy, the source of state terrorism. Also under demand by these political
parties because of the manifestation of state terrorism is revision of the 1985
citizenship act and dismantling of the resettlement programme whereby Drukpas from the
east and north are distributed the properties of the Lhotshampas of the South.
Judging from the events of September 11th and
December 13th, the harsh reality of this policy may be comparable to the Talibanisation of
Afghanistan. If Afghan women were required to were Burkha the Lotshampa women were
required wear skirts (Gho Kira) and to adopt a new hairstyle by cutting it short. The
suffering and trauma caused by such a ruling can only be imagined by the victims. Not only
were ethnic trust and harmony destroyed by the state but also the Lhotshampa community.
In this age of globalisation and
interdependence it is ironical that a romantic policy of cultural purity should find
supporters in the international community of nations. International assistance to Bhutan
continues to flow even when the Drukpa regime is committing crimes against humanity
through terror , mass eviction, plunder, rape and the murder of innocent civilians who up
till now have not resorted to arms in defence of their human rights, freedom and
liberties.
With the arrival of the US in South Asia and
the first war of the 21st century against terrorism in Afghanistan, all freedom loving
Bhutanese pray and hope that the US could also, for peace and stability in the region
facilitate the speedy repatriation of all Bhutanese refugees with dignity and honour and
their rehabilitation with justice with equity. The US can facilitate a more active role by
the Indian Government in the settlement of the Bhutanese refugee problem.
The conspicuous absence of the King of Bhutan
at the 10th and 11th SAARC summits was a calculated ploy to avoid regional pressure for
the settlement of the refugee problem. At the national level the king is said to be taking
many initiatives towards formulating a written constitution with the decentralisation of
political authority. And these measures have ironically been considered as acts of
democratization when blatant transgressions of human rights ensue daily in Bhutan through
state terrorism.
It has taken 10 months to verify 12,500
refugees. At this rate it will take more than 10 years to have all the refugees verified.
Such a process is bound to create a hotbed of hatred and anger, alienation and
hopelessness and sow the seeds of terrorism both in Nepal and in the region.
The Bhutanese refugee problem in the context
of the possible destabilisation of the South Asian region through terrorism and other acts
of violence could be ripe to trigger instability in the South Asian Himalayan belt as
Bhutan fails along with other nations to provide freedom and justice for minority ethnic
communities.
(The writer is a former Bhutanese diplomat
and current refugee activist)
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