BHUTAN: Getting Ready for the SAARC Summit: Update No. 83

BHUTAN: Getting Ready for the SAARC Summit: Update No. 84

By Dr. S. Chandrasekharan.

Bhutan is all set to host the 16th SAARC Summit at Thimpu on 27th and 28th of this month. This will be the biggest regional event Bhutan will be hosting in the recent times.

Careful preparations have been going on for many months and the March end dead line for completion was adhered to.

The road to Thimpu from Paro has been done up. The Ministers’ Enclave at Motihang is ready as planned. Arranging accommodation for over 1000 persons that include delegates and journalists, in a small place like Thimpu is not an easy task. Keeping the dead line, the government spared no efforts to get everything in place and this is no mean achievement, considering the problems we see in Delhi with the slow pace of construction going on in connection with the Commonwealth Games.

Arranging food, traffic movement, media centres, emergency medical requirements and above all security arrangements for a large number of persons including Heads of Governments and States was a very challenging task. The security officials of countries represented have inspected the sites and have given their clearance.

In the course of the summit, the Government will be able to show case its own fledgling democracy and its concept of Gross National Happiness ( GNH) that is gaining ground and support in other countries.

It was on March 24 this year that Bhutan completed two years after holding its first ever general elections and in a few months the government led by Lyonchen Jigme Y. Thinley will be entering the third year.

In the South Asian context, it will be interesting to watch two young democracies- Bhutan and Maldives taking firm roots. In the case of Bhutan, the country has to make with little or no opposition at all whereas in Maldives, President Nasheed has to manage an opposition that is in a majority in the Parliament!

For Bhutan the unfinished business would be on three fronts. First is economic development which is overly dependent on Hydro Power and external aid. The experience gained in hosting a big event like the SAARC summit could give them an opportunity to expand the tourism sector in future. The second is the introduction of democracy at the grass roots level. For some reason or other, local elections are getting postponed. Third will be the funding of political parties which are in deep debt.

The release of President of Druk National Congress- R.K.Dorji from extradition proceedings on 21st of this month on the instructions of Bhutan Government has come as a surprise to many of the activists outside Bhutan and it has generated some hope that the government of Bhutan is perhaps getting more confident in dealing with dissidents.

But I do not think so. This particular case was initiated on April 18, 1997 and Dorji was unnecessarily kept in Tihar jail for about 15 months and thereafter he was asked not to leave Delhi and to report to the Police twice a week. Continued restrictions on Dorji for about 13 years must have caused considerable embarrassment to Government of India as no “follow up” evidence was given by the Bhutanese authorities to the courts so far.

Refugee Issue:

Figures available till 15th February show the following departures from the refugee camps.

USA----------- 23696
Australia              1124
Canada                  904
Netherlands           122
New Zealand         371
Norway                 309
Denmark               324
Total---------     26860

By end March, total resettled abroad numbered 30,000 and another 8000 who have been issued travel documents will be resettled by end July.

The United Kingdom has also offered to settle about 200 refugees and other countries may follow. It is learnt that 83000 refugees have so far given their willingness for third country settlement.

The cold-blooded murder of Ramesh Subba chief of URFB ( United Revolutionary Front of Bhutan) has created panic in the refugee camps. He was shot dead at Ettabhatta some 5 km from the Kakarbitta border. Subba had been campaigning for an armed revolution in Bhutan. Though no one has claimed responsibility, it is presumed that it was the result of intra group rivalry for the top position. Subba was from Beldangi camp and he was connected with the murder of K.B.Khadka of the same camp who was considered to be sympathetic to another violent outfit Bhutan Leopards.

The Refugee leadership is increasingly getting frustrated with the core member countries led by the USA for doing nothing for those who are seeking repatriation to Bhutan. There is hardly any pressure on Bhutan to start repatriating even those refugees who were considered to be Bhutanese by the Joint Verification Team of Bhutan and Nepal in the beginning of 2000. There have been no bilateral talks either since 2004. Though Prime Minister Jigme Thinley met Madhav Nepal during his visit recently to attend the 13th day function after G.P’s death, the refugee question was not discussed.

There is also the question of over 30,000 refugees scattered all over India of whom some 18,000 are said to be living in the border areas. There are reports to indicate that some sympathetic NGOs in Delhi are planning to move the Supreme Court in India to help them out as they have no identity cards and have no access to any social benefits either.

There have been no recent major law and order incidents in southern Bhutan by the cadres of the Maoists of the Bhutanese Communist Party located in Nepal. This is perhaps due to the fact that the Nepalese Maoists are themselves busy with their own problems of regaining power in Nepal.