Is Bhutan moving towards Constitutional monarchy?
Too early to say- Update 26.
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
Kuensel the official newspaper of Bhutan in its issue of October 19,
2002 said that Bhutan has taken "yet another step towards becoming a
Constitutional Monarchy with a government that is for the people, by the
people and of the people. " The paper had quoted the members of the
drafting committee who had completed two weeks of intensive discussions
before finalising the draft. The statement made some generalities
like a constitution that would ensure freedom and rights of people based
on justice and rule of law, a responsive and transparent system of
governance with checks and balances etc. What it avoided and that
was deliberate was a total blackout on the role of the King, his powers
and other checks and balances amongst the people, parties if permitted and
the King.
Till now, Bhutan did not have a written constitution and it is still
being governed by the Royal decree of 1953. To say that the new
constitution is "yet another" step towards constitutional
monarchy presumes that the Royal decree itself had elements of
Constitutional monarchy which everyone knows is not true. Secondly
it is just a draft to be presented to the King before the end of 2002
probably on December 17, the national day and could take any form in the
final stages.
Press reports indicate that some of the Refugee leaders in Nepal termed
the developments as "window dressing" and as an attempt to
deflect international opinion from the deadlocked Bhutanese refugee
issue. Their reaction though understandable is too premature.
There was a word of caution from D.N.S Dhakal of BNDP who said that the
international community should not take Bhutan’s proposed move towards
democracy for granted!
The King’s birthday on November 11 was celebrated without much
fanfare that is not normal with monarchies. As the fourth King
of Bhutan, King Jigme Wangchuk ascended the throne in 1972 when he was
just 16. As the youngest monarch at that time, he has successfully
ruled the country for thirty years with an iron hand allowing no
dissidence. The case of Tek Nath Rizal who was imprisoned for over
11 years is well known. While King is considered to be a unifying
factor, he has managed to keep over 100,000 of his own people as refugees
and put the Nepal government in knots over repatriation. To his
credit, he has been very adept in moving out of isolation from the hold of
India and yet tie up energy starved India with hydro-electric projects
which would ensure stability of the present system and of the monarchy
itself. How else can one explain the continued detention of Thinley
Dorji, chairman of a political party DNC in Delhi at the behest of Bhutan?
Or of India’s steadfast resistance to get involved with the refugee
problem between Nepal and Bhutan when both have special relations with
India?
The Refugee problem continues to fester. With no headway being made
in the refugee question, the refugees and their leaders are getting
restless. The refugees are not allowed to take up any work and
living within the camps with no ostensible means of existence and nothing
else to do have driven many of the refugees to indulge in anti social
activities within the camps. Added to the frustration is the delay
in the verification and follow up action by the Joint Verification
teams. This has resulted in the UNHCR sending a three member team to
investigate cases of social abuses and victimisation within the
camps. The team has reported incidents of gender abuse and
trafficking in girls, forced marriage etc. Resulting in the arrival of a
bigger team to prevent such abuses. There has been laxity on the part of
the refugee leaders of the camps also.
In the absence of any formal meetings between Bhutan and Nepal since
September last year, the Bhutanese refugee Repatriation Support Group
(BRRSG) comprising of former diplomats, members of political parties and
the Refugee representatives met on November 8 to explore the possibilities
of opening track II diplomatic efforts to solve the issue. All they
could decide was to call upon both countries to resume negotiations and
convene the delayed 12th round of minister level of talks
between the two countries.
Two events though unrelated would help the refugee cause. Media
reports indicate that for the first time the Shabdrung Rimpoche who had
led a apolitical existence ever since he fled to India in the early 1960s
came out openly in favour of refugees. Though the institution of
Shabdrung was given an unceremonious end in 1907, the Rimpoche continued
to earn the respect of Bhutanese nationals. He is said to have
commented that " They ( Bhutanese of Nepali origin) had done nothing
wrong. Even if I recommend to the King to take back the refugees, he’s
likely to ignore it. But what has happened to the refugees is very
unpleasant and sad. Something has to be done . . . They are human
beings. They must be allowed to live in their country."
Teknath Rizal after a long silence after his release has indicated that
he would internationalise the plight of the refugees. When he was
released from after eleven years of incarceration, Rizal sought an
audience of the King to discuss the issues relating to the refugees.
The King has not responded and Rizal is therefore set to make his next
move.
