Will Democracy in Bhutan Resolve the Refugee Crisis?
Bhutan’s King will hand over power to the elected government in 2008. The country's first-ever new Constitution, drafted in March 2005, aims to establish a two-party democracy after a century of absolute monarchy established with British help in 1907. Leaders of Bhutan’s political parties established in exile (in neighbouring India and Nepal) have welcomed King Jigme Singye Wangchuk’s announcement to abdicate the throne in 2008.
However, they are sceptical about whether the move toward democracy will sort out the lingering repatriation problem of more than a lakh refugees of Nepalese origin. Most of these refugees, who started leaving Bhutan in 1989 after a crackdown on “non-nationals,” are sheltered in seven camps in eastern Nepal’s Jhapa and Morang districts.
The issue of citizenship of Bhutanese origin has grown into a wider movement for democracy, a large number of whose supporters were thrown into prison. A large chunk of them flew to India and Nepal. Their future under Monarchy remains uncertain. The new hope is based on the democratic set-up of government and its strength, which would be placed in 2008.
Bhutan is located in the eastern Himalayas, bordered by India in the south, east and west and by the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China in the north. Bhutan shares about 1075 km of land boundaries with its neighbours - China 470 km, India 605 km. It is a nation of immigrants and a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic society. There are three main ethnic, religious and linguistic groups – Ngalongs, Sharchops and Nepali-speaking Lhotshampas. Besides, there are a dozen smaller groups, including Khengs, Brokpas Mangdepas, Kurteopas, Doyas, Adivashis, and Tibetans.
The Ngalongs are the ruling group controlling the monarchy, government, and economy. The King and all the high government officials belong to this ethnic group. They live in the northwestern region and speak the Dzongkha language. Until 1972, Nepali-speaking Southern Bhutanese Lhotshampas were not allowed to own properties in the Ngalung-dominated areas. Even in-country migration was restricted for them. They were restricted from travelling to the northern regions.
A thoughtful strategy was devised to segregate the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampas community. The Marriage Act was enacted in 1980 and was forcefully implemented in 1988. This discriminatory law imposes a number of denials of benefits to those who married non-Bhutanese wives. The Lhotshampas who married non-Bhutanese wives did not have the right to stand for election to the National Assembly, they were denied promotion in civil services, training and, fellowships and medical treatment abroad. This posed enormous problems for the Lhotshampas. Both the Citizenship Act and Marriage Act, while being racist and discriminatory against Lhotshampas, were made all the more unpalatable due to the high-handed manner of their implementation and explicit expression of the Government's desire to eliminate as many Lhotshampa citizens as possible. In conformity with the Acts, a biased and manipulative population census was carried out in all the districts of southern Bhutan to evict the Lhotshampas deliberately.
All Lhotshampa people who participated in the peaceful demonstrations were immediately reprimanded. Arbitrary arrest, degrading treatment, loot, plunder, and rape of innocent women and burning down of their houses had become the order of the day. The security forces, Royal Body Guards, and government officials indiscriminately arrested, tortured, and imprisoned innocent villagers. Entire villages were razed to the ground by the government security forces. Many were killed in police custody under torture. The government of Bhutan confiscated citizenship and property documents. Also, it forced many of the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampas to sign papers written in Dzongkha, the content of which the southern Bhutanese could not read or understand, renouncing the Bhutanese citizenship.
However, the new constitution is silent on the future of the nearly 112,263 refugees sheltered in Nepal’s camps who were thrown out of the country following the enactment of the Citizenship Act in 1985. Political parties active in exile have come to understand that the question of democracy is inextricably linked with the rehabilitation of the refugees.
India’s concern in Bhutan is based on the peaceful, systematic change and non-interference of other powers, especially China. In 1958, China not only claimed Indian Territory; its maps also showed 200 sq miles of Bhutanese territory as part of Tibet. At this defining moment, Nehru said in the Parliament that any attack on Bhutan would be considered an attack on India.
The refugee issue is also linked to the concept of Greater Nepal. The rest of Bhutan's communities are scared of the grand design of Greater Nepal, which consists of the Nepalese population of Sikkim, Gorkhaland, and Southern Bhutan. This fear creates an unbridgeable chasm among the different communities of Bhutan. At this juncture, India can play a decisive role in repatriating refugees outside of Bhutan. But it all depends on the goodwill of the king and the strength of the imminent democratic set-up.