NO TO REPATRIATION:Opposition Leader

BY M B SUBBA

The leader of the Opposition Party, Tshering Tobgay has slammed the Prime Minister’s statements concerning the people living in the camps of eastern Nepal.

During the 20th Meet the Press last Thursday, Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley said that “presently the position of the government is to take back anybody who fulfills the criteria agreed upon between Nepal and Bhutan in bilateral discussion.”  

“No. Repatriation is no longer possible,” the Opposition Leader (OL) said, unveiling his party’s official stand. He said repatriation of some people was possibility 10 years ago, but only if the verification process was honest and complete, which was not. According to the OL, repatriation was not possible 10 years ago, in spite of the best efforts of the governments of Bhutan and Nepal. “I don’t see and understand how the prime minister can even talk about it as a possibility now.”

The OL also said he is baffled about what the PM is talking about concerning “criteria”. “What and where are the criteria?” he asked, adding there is no basis of even identifying whether a person is a genuine Bhutanese or not. “I fail to see any logic in the PM’s statement.”

He further referred to settlements that people from the camps have made in third countries and expressed his gratitude to the countries.  While he did not specify what the best solution to the issue would be, the OL said: “I strongly support honest dialogue between the governments of Bhutan and Nepal to consider workable ways of closing this difficult problem.”

Verification of the people, which began in 2001 came to an abrupt end after a Bhutanese team led by the current Works and Human Settlement Secretary, Dasho (Dr) Sonam Tenzin was attacked in 2003.

The joint verification team (JVC) categorized only 2.5% of the people as confide Bhutanese citizens and 24% non-Bhutanese.  Another 70 % had migrated voluntarily and 3% had fled Bhutan after participating in anti-national activities.

Meanwhile, in the press brief, Lyonchhen said the issue needed to be resolved quickly and revealed that the government was willing to repatriate some of the people living in camps in eastern Nepal if they fulfill the criteria agreed upon earlier by the governments of Bhutan and Nepal.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), despite momentous resettlement program in third countries, at least 10.37 percent of the people are likely to remain even after the ongoing resettlement program ceases by 2015. The resettlement program was launched in November 2007. Since then the population in the camp dropped to 54,652 from the initial figure of 113, 486. The latest report states 58,834 individuals have left for various western countries by January 19 this year.

The latest report says people have been resettled in eight countries, 49,396 in the United States, 4,213 in Canada, 3,217 in Australia, 589 in New Zealand, 612 in Denmark, 372 in Norway, 324 in the Netherlands, and 111 the United Kingdom.

Of the remaining residents, at least 42,873 individuals have declared an interest in resettlement. After that there will be only 11,779 people in the camps.

At the start of the resettlement program, there were 108,000 people.
Source: Kuensel(Bhutan National newspaper)Daily