The Bhutan People’s Party (BPP), the Bhutanese democratic outfit currently working in exile in Nepal, on Sunday expressed concerns over the statement made by Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley a day earlier in Kathmandu about the status of the Bhutanese people taking refuge in eastern Nepal.Wrapping up his three-day visit to Nepal as the SAARC Chair on Saturday , Bhutanese PM Thinley at a press conference had questioned the nationality of the refugees, saying whether they are Bhutanese or not could only be determined by bilateral talks to be resumed shortly between the two countries.
Issuing a press statement from its contact office in Kathmandu today, the BPP accused Thinley of orchestrating a ploy to forcibly drive away thousands of Bhutanese citizens from their own land two decades ago and slammed his latest statement as being ‘cowardly’ and the real face of Bhutan’s version of democracy.
The BPP also challenged the Bhutanese government to prove that any one of the people taking refuge in various camps of eastern Nepal is a non-Bhutanese. “The way Thinley’s public statement has come makes it clear that Bhutan does not want to return its citizens home.”
The BPP requested the Nepal government to take an initiative to arrange for joint talks between Bhutan, Nepal, India and leaders of exiled political parties of Bhutan for repatriation of the refugees and establishment of democracy and respect to human rights in Bhutan.
The Bhutanese outfit further asked the Nepal government to immediately set up a taskforce capable to take diplomatic initiatives for a lasting resolution of the refugee crisis.
The BPP also asked Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to learn a lesson from democratic transformations taking place around the world in recent times and address the refugee issue within 2011.
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