The ‘Forgotten Refugees’

The genesis of the refugee crisis in Bhutan lies in its ethnic divide. The conflict, which was transformed into a radical insurgencywas aimed to oust the Nepali Lhotshampa who had not only questioned the monarchial political order but challenged the dominant Drukpa community. In1989, Bhutan began to evict them from its southern districts, though the Nepali community had been residing there since 1620, when Newar craftsmen were commissioned to build a stupa in Bhutan. Settling in southern Bhutan, the country’s major food producing region, their numbers flourished and continued to do so for a long period. They gained the name Lhotshampa, which means people from the south. What is more, these were not uninvited or unwelcome intruders as they had responded to a need for foreign labor during this period.

The expulsion of the Lhotshampas did not happen overnight. Bhutan’s Citizenship Acts of 1958 and 1985 meant that many Lhotshampa were given citizenship in 1958. However, subsequently that year was identified as a “cut off” point. If residents could not supply proof that they were Bhutanese residents before 1958, they were deemed to be illegal immigrants. According to human rights groups, even those who could supply the required proof were often evicted.

In 1988 a census was conducted. Following the census, the Bhutanese government realized the extent of the Bhutanese-Nepali population residing in Bhutan, most notably the Nepali speaking Lhotshampa group. Following the census, the Bhutanese government estimated that 28 percent of the population was of Nepalese origin. However, unofficial claims circled that up to 40 percent of the population was Nepali and that this would be a majority in the south. This figure soon gained traction in the public imagination. With the events leading up to Sikkim’s joining of India in 1975 still fresh in the minds of Bhutanese leaders, action had to be taken. However with an open border, migrant labor, and the geographical challenges of conducting a census in remote areas, the population numbers quoted may have been incorrect. Some estimates put the numbers of Nepalese population as little as 15 percent.

Subsequently, a new policy was brought to play to project a national identity for the people of Bhutan. Under the “One Nation, One People” policy, the government placed cultural and linguistic restrictions upon the Lhotshampa, from replacing Nepali as a classroom language with Dzongkha to forcing all citizens to follow the national dress code of theDriglam Namzha. Nepalis naturally resented having to be forced to wear the dress of the Ngalop majority, instead of their own traditional dress and the Nepali people resented paying huge fines if they were unable to follow the code.These mechanisms instilled the fear that the identity of the Nepali community was being extinguished.
Ethnic tensions rose and since 1988 over 100,000 Lhotshampa left Nepal, with many claiming to have been forced out. Many were accused of being illegal aliens and claim they have faced violence and ethnic discrimination. Clashes, sometimes violent, between the Bhutan People’s Party, dominated by the Lhotshampa, and the government was common.India was affected by these agitations as India shares an intimate relationship with Bhutan after the formalization of the treaty in 1949 whereby the Government of Bhutan is guided by the advice of the Government of India in its foreign affairs though India does not interfere in the internal administration of Bhutan

The question is what relevance do events that took place 20 years ago still have, particularly in the face of a widely heralded and mostly successfully repatriation scheme to the United States and other neutral countries? The answer lies in the fact that even 20 years later, the issue has not been resolved to the satisfaction of all involved. There have been over 100,000 refugees successfully resettled abroad; however thousands remain and there is seemingly little impetus or concern for those left behind.

The lack of a sense of urgency has led refugees to simply languish in camps for 20 years. Currently there are two operational Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal, down from the original seven. The remaining camps have an estimated population of 18,000. Conditions inside the camps are hard, as they were never meant to be a permanent solution. As this is not a pressing issue for either Nepal or Bhutan, with both sides preferring rehabilitation in neutral third countries, they have been happy to sit back and wait.Unfortunately they are the ‘forgotten refugees’ of today overlooked by the international community at a time when civil wars in other parts of the world have created large numbers of refugees.

Samanneeta Chakraborty
Intern
AGA