FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Deadlock In Refugee Repatriation
Bhutan Holds Key To Solution

By Dr. Mahan Lohani

LEADER of the main opposition (CPN-UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal who is back home after a three-day official visit to Thimpu is reported to have told the press that more intensive efforts are required on both sides (Nepal and Bhutan) to resolve the refugee imbroglio. Although CPN-UML General Secretary Nepal has confirmed that Bhutan is willing to include a third party in resolving this long standing problem, the 12th round of Ministerial level talks has not yet been rescheduled. This has come as a damper to Nepalese expectation that the process of repatriation would be expedited after the verification of refugees in the Khudunabari camp. It may be recalled that a joint team representing Nepal and Bhutan had completed verification of approximately thirteen thousand refugees lodged in the Khudunabari camp last December. Bhutan insists on the categorisation and harmonization of refugees even after verification has been completed.

Categorisation

It is true that the first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC), which was held in Kathmandu in 1993 to which PM Deuba who was then the Home Minister led the Nepalese Delegation, had decided to classify refugees in four categories: namely, bonafide Bhutanese refugees forcibly evicted from their country, Bhutanese who left Bhutan voluntarily as migrants, Non-Bhutanese and Bhutanese criminals who left Bhutan after committing crimes in their own country. Some critics continue to blame Nepal for having accepted the categorisation proposal and fallen into the trap set by the Thimpu government. The proposal has been defended on the ground that Nepal in its sincere desire to break the impasse had accepted the proposal in good faith. Nevertheless, it has been Nepal’s consistent stand that refugees from Bhutan, with the exception of Non-Bhutanese, have lived in that country for generations and must be allowed to return home in safety and with dignity. Refugee analysts are of the view that the longer the repatriation of refugees is delayed, the more challenging to the Thimpu government will be the people’s intensified struggle for democratic rule from within and outside Bhutan.

It is, indeed, encouraging to note the agreement at the 11th round of Ministerial talks between Nepal and Bhutan in August 2000 to simplify and speed up the verification process of refugees. Verification, although it was launched in April 2001, was finally completed at the Khudunabari camp last December. This process had become a test case for the exercise of political will in Thimpu. Anybody who has followed the refugee issue with some interest is aware of the fact that Nepal gave shelter to over one hundred thousand refugees from Bhutan on humanitarian grounds. This country has appreciated the role and involvement of UNHCR in coordinating relief assistance and operations in the seven refugee camps of Eastern Nepal. The crisis was not created by Nepal which has, nevertheless remained keen to find a political solution to the long protracted refugee issue through bilateral talks with Bhutan. It was on Nepal’s initiative that the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) was formed with a mandate to thrash out a solution acceptable to both sides, leading ultimately to an early repatriation of refugees to their country of domicile.

The unique nature of the refugee issue confronting Nepal for more than a decade has been recognised by the international community. Bhutanese refugees crossed into Nepal by using the Indian territory, and India, thus, happens to be the first entry point of asylum for these refugees. It has further been pointed out that the refugee issue involves three parties, namely, Bhutan, Nepal and India and that sincere cooperation among them alone could facilitate and ensure a speedy solution of the issue. India is, of course, a common friend of both Nepal and Bhutan. Since India and Bhutan enjoy special relations under the 1949 treaty, Nepalese politicians have argued that the decade long refugee problem cannot be resolved without Indian mediation. Nepalese leaders are reported to have sought Indian cooperation during their official visits to New Delhi at various levels and in different periods.

Bilateral Issue

While India, despite its consistent position that the refugee issue has to be sorted out bilaterally between Nepal and Bhutan, is reportedly willing to look at the issue seriously and cooperate with Nepal in resolving it. Bhutan has continued to buy time and disappoint the international community including Nepal. CPN UML leader has returned home with this optimistic assessment that Bhutan is taking time because this is the first time they are practically trying to resolve the issue. Let us hope that this is the case and the sooner the issue is resolved, the better it will be for expanding Nepal-Bhutan ties on different fronts. It is the sincere wish of every Nepali, be he a politician, an administrator or a member of civil society that Nepal and Bhutan are close neighbours bound by common ties of history, geography, culture and above all, the institution of monarchy. Besides, as SAARC member states and as members of the Growth Quadrangle they share a common destiny in this region and can no longer allow the refugee issue to undermine their good neighbourly bilateral relations. They are expected to embark upon mutually beneficial programmes with enormous prospects of bilateral and regional cooperation. Experts have already visualised sub-regional cooperation under the Growth Quadrangle in such core areas as hydel power, transport and communications, irrigation and flood control, environmental management, tourism and industrial development. One can identify a close nexus between bilateral and sub-regional cooperation. It must, however, be admitted that sub-regional cooperation can make headway only if and when bilateral relations are smooth, problem free and based on mutual goodwill, understanding and cooperation.

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