The ministerial level talks between Nepal and Bhutan starts today (Monday). This is the eight such round of talks between the two SAARC member nations since the arrival of about 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin here. The trickle started back in 1989, though the huge number of refugees arrived only after the re-ushering in of democracy here in Nepal in early 1990.

  Nepal has been calling for the repatriation of the refugees right from the beginning, though quite cleverly, Bhutan has been able to constantly stall matters. Nepal’s failure on this front can be seen by the presence of the refugees even ten long years after their arrival.

  One outstanding problem that arose after some years of the arrival of the refugees, is in India not allowing them to return back to Bhutan through its territory. This is a strange logic from India, as the refugees first entered Nepal after travelling overland through India. Nepal and Bhutan don’t share a common border, thus the refugees have to travel via India when they come to Nepal or when they go back to Bhutan from here.

  Some years back, the Bhutanese refugees had tried to go back to Bhutan to press some demands before the government there, but truck loads of Bhutanese were arrested by the Indian police and they were either jailed in some West Bengal jails or they were dumped back at the border with Nepal.

  The Indian government has also constantly said that the refugee problem is a bilateral matter between Nepal and Bhutan and the two have to solve this issue bilaterally. But one can see that India does not want to step in and help repatriate the refugees because Bhutan has a “special” relationship with it. How “special” the relationship can be seen by the fact that India looks after the security matters of Bhutan and that landlocked country’s foreign policy also is virtually shaped by India. So India telling Nepal to bilaterally solve the refugee issue means India does not want to cooperate.

  This is something which Nepalese leaders should have been aware of right in the beginning. They should have stridently raised their voice in this regard. Here, it may be mentioned that the political parties and others who like to present themselves as “nationalists” and “anti-Indian” also don’t seem to be doing anything better. They talk of stopping the screening of Indian movies or even sending back Indian troops from Kalapani, an area which India says Nepal has to prove it is Nepalese territory. But they have never raised the issue of Indian non-cooperation on the Bhutanese refugee problem. They must understand that the presence of Indian troops in Kalapani may bruise one’s ego, but the presence of 100,000 refugees on our soil is more damaging in many ways. Apart from environmental degradation and increase in criminal activities, Nepalese society and culture could suffer. These are things which can’t be brought back easily.

  This time, the eighth round of talks between Nepal and Bhutan is taking place at such a period when the External Affairs Minister of India, Mr. Jaswant Singh, has just completed a goodwill visit to Nepal. In the highly media covered visit, the issue of India extending cooperation in the refugee crisis was brought up both by Nepalese foreign Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat and also by media people, but the veteran Indian diplomat stuck to the routine Indian stance, in which he said “Nepal and Bhutan should solve this problem bilaterally”.

During the press conference organised just before he departed for home also, a journalist questioned why India had allowed the refugees to come into Nepal via India, but they were being stopped while going back. The Indian Minister expressed ignorance about Indian police stopping any Bhutanese. This is a very common diplomatic strategy, i.e. feigning ignorance about some issue. However, Singh did admit that political marches had been stopped.

India or Bhutan cannot be blamed for the attitude they are showing. They will naturally do what they feel is best for their country’s interest. The ones who are weak, are none other than Nepalese politicians and bureaucrats. First of all they don’t seem to be well prepared in holding dialogues with their foreign counterparts, including Bhutanese and Indian officials. Then secondly, they don’t seem to have any strategy to pressure their counterparts either diplomatically or through the media.

For example, the Foreign Ministry here has never asked for the suggestion of the media people in dealing with the Bhutanese and even exerting polite pressure on big neighbour India. The Foreign Ministry officials have never made the effort to call media people and brief them on what stance the Nepalese side will be taking and how the media could help. Even now, no inter-action has been held between the country’s foreign policy shapers and the press people. So the Bhutanese side can just nonchalantly walk in wrap up the talks and go back, without any pressure of any sorts.

It is a shame for the Nepalese politicians that Bhutan once pointed fingers even at the “political instability” in Nepal for talks not being held. Bhutan is the culprit in this refugee crisis and Nepal is bearing the burden of housing so many people when it itself is having different problems, yet, Bhutan always seems to come out unscathed and Nepal is projected as incompetent. How has this happened, if not for the faults of our own leaders and bureaucrats?

A break-through must be arrived at soon, if Nepal is not to suffer further. The humanitarian plight of the refugees themselves, who surely want to go back to their homeland, also must not be forgotten.

Though our “experts” have not given any indication as to how they will deal with the Bhutanese officials, let us keep our fingers crossed that some positive development will take place after the present round of talks between the ministers of these two countries.