Talks On Refugee Issue Will Bhutan Play Juggling Game Again?

-By Our Correspondent

The 8th round of ministerial level talks between Nepal and Bhutan is starting tomorrow (Monday) in Kathmandu after almost three years of hush by the Bhutanese government on the refugee issue. Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigme Thinley will arrive on the same day to take part in the talks.

The Nepalese government held an all-party meeting at the Foreign Ministry on Friday to devise Nepal’s stance on the Bhutanese refugee problem. The meeting agreed to keep the door open for bilateral talks, but also look for other possibilities if the bilateral talks fail to make any substantial progress in solving the issue.

 However, Bhutanese refugee organisations express skepticism that the talks will make any significant breakthrough to solve the 10-year-old refugee problem.

 The talk will only bear fruit if there is sincerity of purpose on the part of the Bhutanese government, says D.P. Basnet of HUROB (Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan).

 “The talk may only take a decision to leave issue to be pursued by the Nepalese Prime Minister and the Bhutanese King during the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu,” says Rakesh Chhetri, Executive Director of  Centre for Protection of Minorities and Against Racism in Bhutan (CEMART-Bhutan)

 After the SAARC summit Bhutan might revert back to its position and may be unwilling to pursue the talks, he says. “They want the refugees to assimilate in the Nepalese population.”

The talks on refugee issue has virtually stalled after the 4th round talks, when Nepal and Bhutan agreed on the categorization of the refugees into four — genuine Bhutanese, Bhutanese who have left Bhutan on their own will, Bhutanese with criminal records and non-Bhutanese. The next three rounds of talks failed to devise a mechanism for the verification of the Bhutanese refugees.

 “The Bhutanese government is averse to any kind of verification process because it will find that 99 per cent of the refugees are Bhutanese,” says  Chhetri.

Bhutan says that most of the refugees living in the camps in Eastern Nepal has Nepalese squatters. But Bhutan is afraid if it accepts to verify the refugee the truth will come out, Chhetri says.

The resumption of the talks may be called as the opening of the obstructed process, but refugee organisations doubt this could be another ploy of the Bhutanese government to prolong the issue, and to keep it wrapped in the bilateral fold.

Even this time, the Bhutanese have not come to the talks willingly. Chhetri says even the Nepalese government had not known about the date of the talks until it was late.

In the second week of August, Bhutanese refugee organisations had tried to adopt a resolution concerning the repatriation of the refugee at the UN Human Rights Sub-commission in Geneva. But Bhutan had lobbied to block the adoption, saying it was having bilateral talks to resolve the issue on the second week of September. The UN then had given Bhutan’s pledge.

 So, it was to escape the resolution and the next is to facilitate Bhutan’s participation in the SAARC summit, Chhetri says.”

They have been pursuing the policy of lie and deception,” says D.P. Basnet of HUROB (Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan).

Now, the only way the talks might bear fruit is if it draws up a mechanism for the verification process.

Though the Bhutanese refugees had opposed the verification, now that has been agreed, now they say Nepal should go ahead and stress on establishing verification mechanism. “It should start immediately, and we also want it to be strict,” Basnet says. He is confident that more than 95 per cent of the refugees living in the camps are bona fide citizens of Bhutan.

He even said an advisor at the UN Human Rights Subcommission had suggested the formation of a committee consisting of the Nepalese government, Bhutanese government, UNHCR, the UN High Commission for Refugees and representatives of the Bhutanese refugee, but the Bhutanese government declined that.

Though the talks has resumed it does not mean that the things will proceed ahead. The past examples have shown that Bhutan does not want to solve the problem on its own will. This time, too, the Bhutanese government may employ every tactic to linger and juggle the issue.

 In the past talks, they did it quite successfully. It now depends on Nepal’s diplomatic skill to keep the Bhutanese side see the rationale of the early conclusion of the problem.

     Things may still not move ahead without India’s cooperation even from behind the curtain. However, India has been declining to get involved in the issue.

Pressure is mounting on Nepal to internationalise the issue. The talks beginning tomorrow could be the final one for Nepal to decide whether it should seek international fora.

The failure of this talks means bilateral talks alone will not find a solution to the Bhutanese refugee issue.

Indian FM's Visit May Give Green Signal To Enron, Others

-By Our Correspondent

Foreign Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat saw off his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh at the Tribhuvan International Airport  yesterday (Saturday). Singh had come to Nepal on Wednesday on a 4-four official visit.

 Experts in foreign policies have considered his visit to and significant and important in further promoting relations between the two neighbouring countries.

 During his visit, Nepal and India reached an understanding on a number of bilateral issues. “The visit was more of development and economic content,” Nepalese Foreign Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said.

 Talking to the press after seeing off his Indian counterpart Singh on Saturday, Dr. Mahat said that many new development projects were proposed and identified during the talks between the Nepalese and Indian officials.

 Regarding the Kalapani issue, Foreign Secretary Murari Raj Sharma said that positive indications have come from India. Minister Mahat is assured that India would extend cooperation to address all the issues between the two countries.

 “We talked about reviewing the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950. We also extensively held talks regarding the border demarcation in the north-western part, implementation of the Mahakali Treaty, Bhutanese refugee problem and border security,” Dr. Mahat said.

He said that the Nepalese team showed relevant historical documents to the Indian officials to justify that Kalapani lies in Nepal.

 “The Indian government has agreed to resolve all the issues through talks. We have given responsibilities to the Foreign Secretary to prepare detailed documents to review the 1950 Treaty.”

But, he said, the Indian side has not made any comment on India’s role to repatriate the Bhutanese refugees to Bhutan.

On India's concern about anti-Indian activities from Nepal, Dr. Mahat said, "We have reiterated our commitment that we would not allow our land to be used against India or any other country. We will take strong action those who are found being involved in the terrorist activities if we come to know about it.”

 His Majesty the King also granted audience to the Indian Foreign Minister.

 Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and other political leaders also met with Singh.

 Commenting on his talks with the Indian foreign minister, Bhattarai said Nepal put forward its views on several outstanding issues such as the reviewing of the1950 Treaty, Mahakali Treaty, Kalapani issue and the Bhutanese refugee problem.

 On the Bhutanese refugee issue, Bhattarai said Nepal told India that historical documents show Kalapani belongs to Nepal. He also talked about the need of India’s cooperation to solve the Bhutanese refugee problem, and a free passage for the refugees to go back to their country.

Initially, the Indian Foreign Minister had mentioned about Nepal’s huge potential of energy, and said ‘India wants Nepal to become an energy-exporting country’.

 This might be significant that the visit will hasten the finalisation of the DPR of Pancheshwor Multi-Purpose Project and the Mahakali Treaty.

 Minister Singh was also present during the inaugural ceremony of the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences at Dharan and the Maternal Intensive Care Unit and the neo-Natal Unit at the Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu.

The Indian Foreign Minister’s indication that power-hungry India is eager to import energy from Nepal may give a green signal to companies like Enron and Snowy Mountain to invest in Nepal’s huge hydro-power potential.

 In all, the visit may have given a new dimension to explore new possibilities of economic cooperation between the two countries.

The Indian Foreign Minister, during his visit, also conveyed an invitation from the Indian Prime Minister to PM Bhattarai to pay an official visit to India.

Shweta New Miss Nepal

-By KPS

Shweta Singh (measuring 5’4", 47 kg, 32-24-35) was the choice of both the judges and the audience for the Miss Nepal ’99 title.          The 19-year-old beauty had already won the heart of the judges by her short and to-the-point answers which gave an insight of her mental faculty as well.  She was judged the beauty with the brain amidst applause of hundreds of audience at the final of the Miss Nepal Beauty Pageant ’99 at the Birendra International Convention Centre on Friday. The new Miss Nepal aims to be a pilot.

The title of First Runners-up title went to Nikita Bhandari and Kripa Shrestha, who also holds the title of Miss Pokhara, was declared Second Runners-up.

Long-limbed and good looking Shweta, an intermediate student, perhaps, had not thought that she would be comparing beauty with the rose she had handed over to a boy before being asked to define ‘beauty’ by Diwakar Chand, the chief judge of the function.

She was on the ramp with a red rose in her hand before defining beauty and explaining the ingredients for a thing to be beautiful.

In front of the judges and a mass of about two thousand people she said, “Beauty is like a rose. It blossoms like the feathers of a flying bird and finds itself ready to rest in some dear one’s heart. The ingredient it needs the most is a warm heart.”

Another answer of Shweta was equally liked by all. “Mutual understanding is next to love for marital life to become a success,” she had replied to former Miss Nepal, Jharana Bajracharya’s query about of what is needed, beside love, for a successful marital life.

Sweta was crowned by Miss Neeru Shrestha, last year’s Miss Nepal. Along with the title, Shweta collected a purse of Rs. 100,000 as a prize and many more gifts.                              

She will represent Nepal in the Miss World ’99 to be held in November in London. Shweta will be the third Miss Nepal to represent the country at the Miss World Pageant after Jharana Bajracharya and Jyoti Pradhan.

Nikita, the 20-year-old first runner-up studying in the final year of the graduate level, was also judged Miss Talent and Miss Photogenic. The First Runner-up carried a total purse of Rs. 70,000 for winning three titles. She will represent Nepal in the Miss Asia-Pacific Quest in the Philippines in November.

Kripa Shrestha, whose aim is to become a computer engineer, collected Rs. 25,000 as prize money and several gifts from the sponsors.

Titles of Miss Personality and Miss Best Dress went to Dristi Tuladhar.

 All the contestants were above 5.3" in height, between 18 to 20 years of age and were first timers in the beauty contest.

There were 14 finalists, after Sabbu Malla, one of the finalists, dropped out of the competition due to a motorcycle accident a few days back.

Other attractions of the pageant were abstract dances, based on environment, wild life and the life of Bhrikuti, the Nepalese princess who spread Buddhism in Tibet. The music and the dances were new and liked by all.

Miss Nepal Beauty Pageant ’99 was, as usual, organised jointly by the Hidden Treasure and Kathmandu Jaycees and the main sponsor of the function was Mount Everest Brewery Pvt. Ltd., the makers of San Miguel Beer.

The jury consisted of 11 judges, from diverse fields such as academic, business, literature, medicine and the former Miss Nepal included Diwakar Chand, Ashesh Malla, Dr. Supatra Koirala, Piyush bahadur Amatya, Jharana Bajracharya and so on.

However, some women had protested against the beauty pageant outside the venue claiming that such functions would demean women and deteriorate the Nepalese culture. They were prevented by the police from entering the venue.