Bhutan refugees in Nepal get death threats: report

Kathmandu, Nov 13 - Eager to build a new life in the US after languishing in camps in Nepal for nearly two decades, Bhutanese refugees now have to cope with another hurdle as militants favouring a return to Bhutan are issuing them death threats, says a report.

Sixty-two Bhutanese refugees living in the Beldangi-I camp in the tea garden district of Jhapa in eastern Nepal have asked for police protection after receiving threats from underground militant youth organisations, a local daily reported Tuesday.

The refugees told the Armed Police Force entrusted with guarding the camps as well as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that they had been told to leave the camp within 15 days or face abduction and death, the Himalayan Times daily said.

The threat was reportedly made by the covert Bhutanese Republican Youth Union and All Bhutan Revolutionary Students' Union to intimidate the families who had expressed eagerness to accept the offer made by the US government to resettle the refugees in American cities and villages.

Over 108,000 Bhutanese have been living in seven closed camps in Jhapa and Morang districts since the 90s, when they were evicted by the Bhutan government for their ethnic origin.

Though Nepal held 15 rounds of talks with Bhutan, the Druk kingdom refused to take the refugees back, dismissing them as anti-nationals and non-Bhutanese.

The camps were threatened by food and fuel scarcity after the donor countries began slashing aid, wearying of a tangle that showed no sign of resolution even after 17 years.

Finally, the US government stepped in with the offer to take in as many refugees as were willing to go and was able to persuade the Nepal government to approve of the offer.

However, as hope for a new life spread among the refugees weary of camp life, fresh tension spread with those favouring a return to Bhutan trying to force the pro-resettlement group into staying on.

The pro-repatriation group fears that once refugees start leaving the camps and the population left behind declines, the pressure on Bhutan to take back its citizens will ease.

Though Nepal favours repatriation as well, it agreed to the US offer after fears that prolonged stay in the camps could create a new militancy, akin to the Maoist insurgency.

Since the US offer came, three people have died in the camps due to clashes.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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