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Bhutanese refugees BY A STAFF REPORTER Kathmandu, March 18: On security and safety grounds, Nepalese and Bhutanese officials will together verify Bhutanese refugees out of their camps that have been hosting them for the last ten years, officials told The Rising Nepal today. The Nepali-speaking Bhutanese from one of the seven UNHCR-maintained camps in eastern Nepal will have to make themselves available at the Joint Verification Team office of the Nepalese officials and their Bhutanese counterpart at Damak of Jhapa District. "We chose the JVT office for verification because if we verify the refugees in their camps we may face disturbances from the crowd and it will be pretty difficult to maintain security," said Usha Nepal, Joint Secretary at Home Ministry, who leads the Nepalese side in the joint verification team comprising of five members from the two Himalayan Kingdoms. It was only recently the two nations established the Jhapa-based JVT office that also hosts their respective secretaries. The 10th joint ministerial level meet between Nepal and Bhutan last December had decided to begin the verification process from one of the seven refugees camps in Jhapa and Morang Districts. In January officials from both the sides had gathered in Jhapa to prepare the logistics and groundwork for the verification process. Yet, the Bhutanese side has taken more than a week to settle in after they arrived at Damak on March 11 this month to begin the verification process. "Since the Bhutanese team is a large one, it took time to hire the right kind of house for them," said Nepal. "Otherwise, we are all set to begin the verification process." Nepal said that the joint verification team would decide tomorrow which camp would be selected for the verification process and when would the work start. "Till now everything is going on smoothly." She also said that the process for the verification would be in line with the decision taken by the 10th meeting of the joint ministerial level talks held in Kathmandu last year. "Even though every thing was agreed then and a Terms of Reference was also prepared, we (the joint verification team) had to meet and talk on the ground-level issues." Bhutan took around 10 years to agree for the verification of the refugees it had created, what Bhutanese refugees say, in the name of its "one nation one people" policy. According to the refugees, Bhutan resorted to ethnic cleansing in the late 80’s after it made some amendment in its Citizenship Act 1958. After it made the change in its legal provision, the Dragon Kingdom evicted its Nepali-speaking population from southern Bhutan. Around 100,000 of these Bhutanese citizens entered Nepal since 1991 and have been living in the UNHCR-maintained camps in Jhapa and Morang Districts. Other Stories |
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