(FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY)
April-May 2003
Proceedings of
the Seminar held on 13.04. 2003.
A Seminar on
Democracy, Human Rights and Bhutanese Refugee Problem was held at
the Constitution Club, New Delhi on 13 April, 2003. Seventy- five
Bhutanese based in Delhi were joined by 15 more from Kathmandu and
Bhutanese Refugee Camps in Nepal. In addition, there were about
fifty representatives representing various organizations from India.
Shri Satya Prakash
Malaviya former Union Minister presided the seminar. And, while
Professor Anand Kumar of JNU conducted the proceedings of the
Morning Session; Shri Shyam Gambhir conducted the proceedings of the
Afternoon Session.
Justice Rajender
Sachar former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court inaugurated the
Seminar and Prof Anand Kumar gave the Welcome Address with a brief
on Bhutan. Dr. Rajeev Dhawan Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of
India and the Executive Director of PILSARC who was the main speaker
of the function delivered a long lecture, explaining what the crux
of the Bhutanese problem was.
Shri Rongthong
Kunley Dorji, President of Druk National Congress before the seminar
started requested the participants to observe a two minute mourning
in memory of the sad and untimely demise of beloved Rimpoche
Shabdrung Jigme Ngwang Namgyel .
Later, during the
course of the seminar when he was invited to speak Mr. Dorji, after
a brief introduction became so emotional that he switched over to a
local Bhutanese language to apprise his Bhutanese compatriots on the
need to understand the core of the problem and the game plan of
Royal Government of Bhutan and to unite their efforts to give a
fitting reply to the autocratic set up back at home. Dr. DNS Dhakal
the General Secretary of the Bhutan National Democratic Party
talking on “Bhutan and Bhutanese Diaspora” required the Indian
dignitaries to create public opinion in favour of democratic changes
in Bhutan which would be in the interest of India in the long run.
Shri V.K. Ohri, Mr.
Dorji’s counsel briefed the audience about his extradition case. He
told the audience how Bhutan a chapter III country has been made a
chapter II country in order to hasten the extradition of Mr. Dorji.
Dr. Balraj Kumar Vice-President of the Indo-Bhutan Friendship
Society focusing his speech on the state of Human Rights situation
in Bhutan expressed serious concern over how the Royal Government of
Bhutan grossly violated the rights of the people.
Mr. Tom Adhikari,
Bhutanese refugee in India who highlighted the ‘Problems of
Bhutanese in India’ said that though the Indo- Bhutan Treaty of 1949
made provisions for treating the Bhutanese residing in India with ‘
equal justice with Indian subjects’ yet in practice, they were
facing great difficulties. While on the one hand they are denied
refugee status citing the benefits conferred upon them by the 1949
treaty, on the other hand, they are denied even the basic amenities
for life such as cooking gas, telephone connection etc. etc. because
of the requirement to produce legally valid documents showing proof
of residence in India.
The Post Lunch
Session saw more young and dynamic speakers from Bhutan. However the
Presidential Address by Shri Satya Prakash Malaviya, President of
the IBFS was a landmark. He said that India being the largest
democracy in the world had responsibility towards its neighbours
therefore it should help the government and people of Bhutan to
resolve the long outstanding issues of Democracy and refugee
repatriation.
The prominent among
the Bhutanese speakers during the afternoon session were Mr.Parshu
Dahal, Mr.Mohan Tamang, Ms. Krishna Chhetri, Mr.Sudharsan and
Mr.Indra Dahal. While some of them felt the need to evolve a
mechanism to register themselves in India.
Mr. Parshu Dahal who
was a Member in the National Assembly of Bhutan apprised the
audience on the present refugee problem and the hunger strike that
they had launched in the camps prior to the Round Table Conference
on Bhutan by its donor countries in February this year.
Dr. B. Satya Narayan
Reddy former Governor UP and Orissa another keynote speaker apprised
the audience how he along with Shri Satya Prakash Malaviya ji had
suggested to a representative of the Government of Bhutan that there
was no protection of Human Rights and that there was a need to draft
a constitution for Bhutan for the protection of the fundamental
rights of its people. And to his surprise after a month or two he
heard that a Constitution Drafting Committee had been formed in
Bhutan.
Shri S S Nehra while
supporting the resolution moved by Shri Shyam Gambhir said that he
has been a long time friend of human rights and democracy in Bhutan
and opined that the idea that a constitution is being drafted by the
government is good but added a cautious note that if in the course
of drafting a major section of the people has been left out then it
might not serve the purpose.
Mr Shyam Gambhir the
Secretary of the Society before going on to move a resolution
delivered a well articulated brief on the activities of the Society
till date. He said that the crux of the problem in Bhutan is a
handful of people at the helm of power trying to exclude the others
particularly the Lhotshampas from reaching the higher echelons of
the Executive. Thereafter he moved a resolution which was
supported by Shri S.S. Nehra. Mr. Tom Adhikari moved another
resolution which was seconded by Shri T.R. Wagley. Two other
resolutions suggested by Dr. Rajeev Dhawan were later on
incorporated with some amendments. The Presiding Officer Shri
Malaviya required the audience to make suggestions and necessary
amendments which after some discussion were passed unanimously.
The Seminar was
concluded with ‘Vote Of Thanks’ from Shri Shyam Gambhir one of the
conveners of the Seminar who was appreciative of Justice Sachar in
particular for taking trouble in coming to attend the Program
despite a hectic schedule.
Given below are
speeches in detail by some of the speakers:
Shri Satya
Prakash Malaviya
Shri Malaviya
delivering the Presidential Address at the end of the day long
Seminar said how beautifully each speaker had one after another
narrated the appalling tragedy that had befallen the Bhutanese
people. He praised the speakers saying that by now everyone who has
been associated with the Bhutanese is well versed with the
intricacies involved in the problem and that experience is very
beneficial to take further the issue.
He said that India
is the largest democracy in the world and should help its smaller
neighbourers solve their problem which are of larger magnitude and
ramifications and are of regional dimension. He said that the
governments of Nepal and Bhutan are involved in parleys for the
repatriation of the refugees back to Bhutan but have not been able
to resolve the problem even after more that 12 years of talks. Also
there are thousands of Bhutanese languishing in India who have been
evicted by Bhutan and the tragedy is that they are not recognized by
India either. In view of the same there is a need on the part of the
Government of India to help resolve the Bhutanese problem so that
all Bhutanese particularly those on Indian soil could return to
Bhutan with dignity.
Shri Malaviya
expressing concern over the prolonged detention of Mr. R. K. Dorji
in Delhi said that he was unable to understand the intricacies
involved in the case that is leading to his long detention here. He
said his main concern was that the Movement for Democracy in Bhutan,
a noble cause was suffering because of the detention of its main
leaders by the government.
Justice Rajendra
Sachar:
Justice Sachar the
former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court who has also been a member
of the National Human Rights Commission expressed happiness for
availing the opportunity to speak to the Bhutanese people. He
recalled that when he was in the Human Rights Commission he used to
come across issues on Bhutan and the gross violation of the rights
of the people there but today he is infront of the very victims so
it is a great opportunity for him. He said the major mistake of the
Royal Government of Bhutan was that it hurt the sentiments of the
People of Nepalese origin when it interfered with their language and
culture. Loyalty to ones nation is one thing and language is quiet
another and the two should not be mixed up. Speaking a particular
language or wearing a particular dress does not essentially make a
person loyal to his or her country. And that is where the flaw is,
he retorted.
He said Bhutan is a
SAARC country and a friendly neighbour of India so before things go
out of hand India should facilitate the resolution of the problem
there. And he thinks this is the right time for using its good
offices because Nepal and Bhutan have not been able to resolve the
problem and the Bhutanese people are looking upon India for using
its influence. Without meddling into the problem India should act as
a facilitator, may be by advising the government of Bhutan to talk
to its people and rehabilitate them. Pointing at the audience he
said that he was shocked to see so many of them and even more at
Delhi.
He concluded wishing
that this human tragedy come to an end with the help of the Indian
authorities so that the people of Bhutan are grateful to the
Government of India for time immemorial which would in turn enhance
the age old relation between the two neighbours.
Dr. Rajeev Dhawan
Dr. Dhawan Sr.
Advocate, Supreme Court of India said that he wanted to be very
brief and wanted to touch only the main points. That his link with
Bhutan was through the extradition case of Mr. R. K. Dorji who is a
political leader of Bhutan who was arrested here and sent to Lampur
Begger’s Home. Mr. Dorji is innocent and he feels that the
government of India must withdraw the case against him.
He continued by
saying that Mr. Dorji’s case and refugee problem is due to lack of
democratic setup of governance in Bhutan. More than one lakh
Bhutanese are outside Bhutan and a overwhelming majority of them are
of Nepali Origin. The Government of Bhutan does not want them to
play a predominant part in any of important matter nor does it want
them in good jobs and own big business houses. The government says
that those evicted are not its citizens. He wondered if you could
say every person out of a group of six is not your citizen then how
would it look like? For instance there are people of Indian Origin
in Fuji and there was a problem there on ethnic grounds even then
the Fiji Government had no guts to declare that the Indians are not
its citizens. Therefore the Bhutanese problem is essentially that of
‘social justice’. He says that the Government of Bhutan came up with
a main policy for the Kingdom in 1988 in the form of the Citizenship
Act of 1985 which annulled the citizenship of thousands of people of
Nepalese origin. Infact from a group of six persons one was told
that he was not a Bhutanese. The citizenship is withdrawn and people
are retired compulsorily from civil service either by changing the
law which is in the hands of the perpetrators or by some other
wicked means. The power of the ethnic Nepalese is withdrawn step by
step.
Their future and
that of their children is not a botheration of the Bhutan
government. What was more appalling was 219 senior civil servants
from this community were compulsorily retired. Thus, this is clearly
a form of ‘Legal Ethnic Cleansing’
Refugee is a person
who runs from his country due to well founded fear of persecution.
Now apparently 20% of the Bhutanese are outside their country due to
such fear. Is the Bhutan Government ready to take them back if it
genuinely wants to resolve the problem? If the political dissidents
are objectionable to it then let it takes back only the ordinary
people excluding the political dissidents. Even if this proposition
is not acceptable to it then the situation can aptly be described as
‘Legal Ethnic Cleansing’ .
The Constitution
being drafted by the Government is fallacious ab initio as
1/3rd of the total population is not included in the
process. Would the Indian Constitution have gained any legitimacy
had 30% of its people not participated in its framing, he posed.
Lastly, some days
back he also advised DNC to form a non-political platform of
Bhutanese with untainted, impartial credentials so that the problems
of Bhutanese could be prioritized and higher authorities approached
for resolution.
Prof. Anand Kr.
Welcoming the Guests
and appreciating the conveners of the Seminar for putting up such a
magnificent show Prof Anand stressed upon the victory of Truth at
the end, when he said ‘ It is a universal law that Truth would
prevail at the end therefore to achieve this noble end all good
people must come together”. Impliedly urging all Bhutanese groups to
come together in their struggle and also requesting all liberal
minded citizens of India to support this noble cause of the
Bhutanese people. ‘There is democracy in every part of the world
today save a few places and the wind of change is bound to sweep
them including Bhutan’, he thundered.
Talking about the
extradition case of Mr. R.K. Dorji he said that exactly 5 years back
Mr. Dorji landed up in jail in India when he came for help here.
Fortunately, there were protests by thousands of people which led to
his release on bail but the matter is still pending final
adjudication. He said the mind set of the people in the Bureaucracy
particularly the MEA is one sided and outdated and they are not
changing according to the time.
The Bhutanese who
are outside their country are victims of gross violation of their
basic rights such as the right to citizenship. Their ancestors were
Bhutanese, their fathers are Bhutanese and they are Bhutanese but
after having evicted them systematically the Dictatorial Regime in
Bhutan is disowning them today. They constitute about 20% of the
total population of Bhutan and have been evicted on grounds of
language and ethnicity he added.
He concluded wishing
that the day long seminar would bring some new message for the
Bhutanese particularly for those who have come from Jhapa Camps.
Dr. DNS Dhakal
The Royal Government
of Bhutan mistook the 1990 peaceful demonstrations which were for
the redressal of certain grievances and started victimizing the
innocent people. When people were evicted they landed up in Assam
and West Bengal districts of India where they tried to establish
camps and stay but when they failed to get the cooperation of the
Indian Authorities they started moving to Nepal particularly for
security reasons. By 1994 the number swelled up to 84 thousands and
now the number of refugees registered in the UNHCR supervised camps
in Nepal is 1,04,000. There are about 8 thousand outside the camps
in Nepal and about 20,000 are languishing in different parts of
India.
After broadly
covering all issues concerning the refugees he went on to say that
even the Nyingmapa followers of Buddhism are persecuted in Bhutan.
Their centers of learning are closed and many of them are still
languishing in jail. He said that there are still about 106
political prisoners in Bhutan from east and southern community.
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