Shameful act

The act of Indian security forces, which killed a Bhutanese refugee, should be condemned from all sections of society. In fact, the human rights groups must take up this incident seriously and raise it in international forums as it is a crime committed by a so-called largest democratic country, which claims that it honors freedom and people's rights. Unfortunately, the Home Ministry, instead of condemning the killing, asked the refugees to return to UNHCR-administered camps. India blocked the road and imposed a curfew to prevent the refugees from returning to their homeland. Indian security forces acted in tandem with the Druk security forces. Both the Indian and Bhutanese security forces had held meetings last week in Phutsoling and Darjeeling to thwart the refugees' attempt to return to Bhutan. In an attempt to deny them the right to return home, India's border security forces mercilessly killed a refugee and injured scores of others.

On May 29, the Bhutanese refugees were returning to Bhutan to participate in a mock election there. The Druk regime is exercising a mock poll in the run up to a general election slated for early next year. The mockery of such exercise is that Bhutan has been run with the royal edicts. Holding such elections, in other words, is mocking democratic values. Has a country ruled by a tin-pot dictator ever become democratic? India should know it well that it has dishonored the rights of the refugees. India's pet regime has evicted hundreds of thousands of its citizens forcibly. India has protected the tin-pot dictator, who has adopted a policy of ethnic cleansing. And this was not the first incident of killing a refugee. Earlier, Indian armed forces killed a refugee who had crossed the Nepal-India border to participate in a protest rally. Since 1994, India has denied the Bhutanese refugees to hold any sort of protest programs within its territory.

In 1991, Bhutan forcibly evicted the Lhotshampas. They were ferried by West Bengal Police and dumped into the Nepali territory. India, since then, has brushed aside the refugee problem citing it as a bilateral issue, siding with the tin-pot dictator. It was a naked crime and a sheer attempt to deny the refugees' right to return home. It is very sad that Nepal has always pushed the refugee issue to the backburner. The third-country resettlement plan will not prevent the Druk dictator from evicting the people of Nepali origin so long as India protects the tin-pot dictator and encourages him to intensify the “ethnic cleansing” drive. What the people of Bhutan need is international support for the fight against the Druk dictator. So, India ought to allow the refugees to participate in the elections slated for early next year in Bhutan.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 31, 2007