Refugee leaders demand asylum

 Several of the Bhutanese refugee leaders who have taken initiation on the repatriation movement by refusing the third country resettlement programme have sought political asylum after receiving death threats.

The leaders claimed of being threatened by the same people involved in the murder of RK Budhathoki, founding chairperson of Bhutan Peoples Party (BPP), in 2001.

After the police had then identified and charged 39 people for their alleged involvement in the murder, only 8 were arrested.

The perpetrators were then denied resettlement abroad owing to the charges levelled against them. Disallowed to resettle abroad, the perpetrators have ever since targeted Balram Poudel, the then general secretary and present chairperson of BPP, along with other leaders. “I have always received death threats over the telephone and e-mail,” Poudel said, adding that they would not have to live in constant fear had the government granted political asylum.

Among those receiving constant threats include Chairperson of Bhutan Rashtriya Mukti Morcha DB Sampang Rai, Goop Khila

of Druk National Congress along with Rinjin Dorjee, Dr Bhampa Rai and DP Kafle of Bhutan Human Rights Group, and Jasodha Adhikari of Bhutan Women’s Association.

According to Poudel, they requested Prime Minister Sushil Koirala for political asylum during his visit to Jhapa a couple of months ago. “The Prime Minister had asked them to visit him in Kathmandu for further discussions,” Poudel claimed.

We also requested the same to the then foreign minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha. Our plea has, however, gone unheard, Poudel mentioned.

Rai seemed edgy on being repatriated since most of the leaders have opted for resettlement. “The chances of repatriation are bleak,” he said. Stating that the Nepal government should grant them political asylum in such condition, Rai remembered the then chairperson of Bhutan Movement Steering Committee Teknath Rijal for taking initiation on the campaign for political asylum a couple of years ago. “Rijal, however, has been living as the lone Bhutani leader in exile after excluding all other leader’s name from the list,” Rai accused.

Owing to severe torture meted by the then government of Bhutan in 1990, over 100,000 Nepali speaking Bhutanese natives had been forced to enter Nepal as refugees . More than 90,000 refugees living in the refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang have been resettled in the US, Norway, Australia, and Canada to name a few, leaving only around 30,000 refugees in the camps. While the process of resettlement for half of the remaining is underway, the ones rooting for repatriation have been in limbo.