(FOR PRIVATE
CIRCULATION ONLY)
April-May 2003
I BFS Celebrates 4th
Foundation Day
The
Patrons, Senior Executive Members and well wishers of the
Indo-Bhutan Friendship Society had gathered at New Delhi on 17
December 2002 to mark the celebrations of its 4th
Foundation Day which coincides with the National Day of Bhutan.
The IBFS was formed on December 17, 1999 to further strengthen
the friendly ties at the peoples level between the people of the
two countries.
Press
Release
January 8, 2003
New Delhi
Druk National
Congress (DNC) welcomes the initiative by Bhutanese refugees
presently languishing in the seven UNHCR supervised camps in
Nepal and in particular by those residing in Khudnabari camp who
have sat in an hunger strike from yesterday i.e. January 7, 2003
to pressurize for their repatriation back to Bhutan. The
initiative must enjoy support from all quarters of the Bhutanese
community and it must continue until the government of Bhutan is
forced to come to the negotiating table and concede to the
genuine demands of the people. The major international players
such as the UN, US and the European Union cannot afford to keep
quiet and let this human tragedy where more than 20% of the
total population of a country has been made destitutes by a
dictatorial regime with a unpluralistic mind set, go unheard.
This would be a historical blunder where regimes with a similar
ideology would be encouraged to follow suit.
On realization that the
bilateral process between Nepal and Bhutan had almost collapsed
the US made a series of initiatives, provided with a formula for
categorization and urged the Bhutanese regime to facilitate the
process. Thus, the tenth round of talks that followed broke the
ice and the two governments started verifying the refugees
residing at the Khudnabari camp. Demands for third party
involvement or for hastening the process of verification by
forming more teams fell into deft ears.
The process, craftily designed by the RGOB was bound to
consume too much time yet it was a welcome step!
Initially when the
verification started, it was agreed that the two governments
would, as soon as the verification would be over, harmonize
their positions on each category and immediately start
repatriating the refugee back to Bhutan. However, it did not
take long to understand the game plan of the RGOB, which
abandoned it soon after the tardy process that consumed almost a
year to verify just about 12,600 refugees, never to return. The
unwillingness on the part of the government of Bhutan to resume
the verification and repatriation process is clear from many
indicators.
The King’s recent,
National Day speech, addressed to the nation wherein he stressed
the urgency of resettling more people from other parts of the
country in the lands of the refugees least they would be
occupied by the ngolops hinting at refugees. And his
views expressed to diplomats and international visitors during
the misleading royal audiences that he gives them are
revelations enough to understand that he can neither be appeased
nor would he repatriate the refugees willingly. United,
continuous and concerted efforts by the refugees - launching
programmes such as the present one supported by international
community alone could bring the King to the negotiating table
and might result in repatriation. Drafting constitution and
holding elections to the post of village headman are simply
dramas by the king in his two-pronged strategy. Firstly, require
his sycophants project him as a magnanimous liberal minded king
that would tone down international pressure for the misdeeds of
his government. Secondly, under the guise of this much-hyped
pro-people, magnanimous and democratic image delay the
repatriation of the refugee for as long as possible.
-sd-
(Rongthong Kunley Dorji)
PRESIDENT
Pseudo
Democracies – A Dangerous Trend
“The
first draft of the constitution will be ready very soon and it
will include the role of the monarch. “It then has to go through
consultations with the people and parliament.” said Prime
Minister Kinzang Dorji, reads an article captioned BHUTAN’S KING
INSISTS ON DEMOCRACY as carried by the Washington Post dated
November 23,2002.
This
is a dangerous trend and is bound to rupture the citadel of even
the most legitimately established and deeply rooted democracies
in the world. What type of democracy will it be, where the
monarch will have a role? This is a totally unknown concept and
Bhutan as our history reveals, where we do not have even a
single political thinker; social analyst or scientist is bound
to invent one. Democracy and a vital role for a dictator in the
same system – how can they go together? Such trend if not
condemned in time would encourage dictatorial mindsets and
demolish democracies rather than strengthening them. The best
examples are the present Burmese and Pakistani military regimes
who after usurping power from legally established democratic
governments have given themselves democratic color.
Perceptibly, such a trend has
encouraged the King of Bhutan who after letting a reign of
terror and evicting over 1/5th of the total
population is trying to project himself as a clean image by
making his “chamchas” air his views in an all encompassing and
articulate manner. History of Politics reveals that no dictator
would give up his powers willingly and certainly, the King of
Bhutan is no exception. He has been projecting himself as a
democrat and a liberal minded king only to pervert the fact and
hijack democracy, which we would witness very soon. He will
never give up his powers and never establish democracy in its
true perspective under one or the other pretext to the utter
dismay of the present propounder of his genuineness.
In
his address to the Nation on occasion of the National Day of
Bhutan, he has very cleverly said that the constitution is not a
gift by him to the people as reported to the press by some of
his sycophants. Most aptly said, how can it be a gift from the
King to the people when over 20% of the total population has
been reduced to refugees and a movement for Democratic changes
is going on for several years now? To quote His Majesty’s speech
relating to the draft constitution and resettlement of landless
people:
Constitution
“In
November this year, the constitution drafting committee
completed the first draft of our Constitution. I would like all
of you to know that the Constitution is not a gift from the King
to the people. It is, however, the sacred responsibility of the
King, the government and the people of our 20 dzongkhags to
bring forth a Constitution that will serve the best interests of
our country. I would like to inform you that the drafting
committee presented the first draft of the constitution to me
about a week back. The Constitution will be finalized in close
consultation with our people. I will be studying the draft
carefully and we will do our best to ensure that a very good
draft constitution is then distributed to the 20 dzongkhags. I
will be personally visiting the dzongkhags with the members of
the drafting committee to discuss with our people and ensure
that your views are incorporated in the draft before it is
forwarded to the National Assembly. It is important for the
government and the people to work closely together in bringing
forth a constitution that will fulfill the aspirations of the
Bhutanese people, promote our national interest, safeguard
Bhutan’s security and sovereignty, and provide a strong
foundation for a political system that is most suitable and
beneficial for both the present and future well being of our
people and country.”
As
you know, some of our landless people in the north have been
resettled on land available in the south. Today, when our
country is going through a difficult and challenging period,
this should not be a cause for doubts or alarm for anyone so
long as the people resettled are genuine citizens of our
country. If the land that is available in the south is left
fallow and unoccupied, there is a serious danger of them being
taken over by the ngolops[i]
and the militants from across the border. Looking after and
retaining possession of our land and territory, whether in the
south or in the north, is of utmost importance for ensuring the
security and sovereignty of our country which is the
responsibility of every Bhutanese citizen.
The intention of the King as to
what type of constitution he would bring out and whether he
genuinely intends to repatriate the refugees back to their land
in Bhutan is abundantly clear from his speech as quoted above.
The constitution is fraught with deficiencies ab initio..
Taking the constitution to the people who are largely illiterate
and make them appeal the king that he should not devolve all his
powers but remain even above the constitution would be a
retrograde step because it is a well known fact that no villager
will ever dare to tell the king to abdicate in front of him. All
said and done if the king still remains above the constitution
after all this exercise, as is apparent, then we are back to
square one.
Allotting
the land of the refugees (who the King refers to as ngolops
meaning anti-nationals or terrorists) is wholly malafide
and designed to pre-empt repatriation of the refugees. There is
ample cultivable land elsewhere if the king is genuinely
interested in giving to the landless people. When he says the
vacant land would be occupied by the ngolops therefore he
is distributing it,
he makes his intention clear that he does not intend to resolve
the refugee problem and repatriate them back to their original
homes.
It is our concern that if the king
is allowed to go scoot free with so much of mischief there are
many others who would follow suit which would ultimately lead to
the crumbling of the mighty democratic empire that we have
toiled so hard to build. Loopholes notwithstanding, so far it
has been the most viable form of government that even the king
accepts but does not respect. Lyonpo Kinzang Dorji claims to be
the Prime Minister of Bhutan but does not know what his exact
role is, from where he draws his power and how secure his
position is?
Mr. Karma Ura of the Center for
Historical Development another sycophant who it appears has not
understood what democracy means is quoted as saying “Bhutan is a
substantive democracy. It may not be multiparty democracy, but
the substance of democracy is fulfilled.” He talks of Democracy
where people would not be allowed to form groups or associations
to express their views and represent them in matters bearing
their wishes. He talks of a democracy without opposition that
sounds ridiculous. The essence of democracy is an active role of
the opposition in the parliament, which acts as a safeguard of
the peoples interests without which the government would be
dictatorial. A role for the monarch as propounded by the “Prime
Minister” and indication by Mr. Ura that Bhutan may not be a
multi-party democracy makes the intention clear and the future
uncertain for another decade or so, as the people have to
continue their struggle till a genuine democracy is established.
Democracy is by the people, for the
people and of the people; it is not something that is to be
handed down by one person to another. The people will establish
democracy by giving themselves the right to choose their
government and live as they wish.
Another dimension of the Bhutanese
problem is restriction of the right to information. People do
not have access to vital information of national significance.
At the first place, the government does not publish them and
even if it does the information is not statically correct. For
instance, the population of Bhutan – no one knows what the exact
population of Bhutan is. The latest figure apparently circulated
by the RGOB is 6,99,000
which might be inclusive of those in exile. If this is
not so then the Govt. Should come up with accurate figure as it
is important for all citizen to know the population of their
country. Varying figures have been circulated even by the
highest executive of the country, which ranges from 6,00,000 to
14,00,000 and the latest as carried by the Washington Post is
6,99,000. Then are we to contend that the citizens of a country
do not have a right to know how many of them live together as
brothers and sisters in their motherland? What holds back the
government from revealing such vital information?
The article is by Mr.
Rongthong Kunley Dorji, President of the Druk National Congress
.
State of Excellent
Relations
Reproduced below is
an article as carried by the Kuensel online . com, posted
on Sunday, February 09 @ 16:11:49 EST BST .
“Bhutan Today” seminar
in New Delhi
There are more
things in common than differences between Bhutan and India
according to one-day “Bhutan Today” seminar held in New Delhi on
February 4, which reviewed the history and the foundations on
which the Indo-Bhutan relations rests today.
“The only thing that divides the two countries is the
international border,” the Bhutanese ambassador to India, Lyonpo
Dago Tshering, was quoted as saying during the seminar, a press
release from the Bhutanese embassy in the Indian capital stated.
The
seminar, which was inaugurated by former Indian prime minister,
Mr. I.K. Gujral, and supported by the South Asian Studies
Foundation and the India International Center, recognized that
the relationship cannot be taken for granted in view of changing
times and rapid global developments, the press release stated.
The
seminar identified areas for further “deepening and
consolidating” the relationship and recommended, among others,
“greater cooperation in economic areas” to promote mutual
interdependence.
The
seminar was attended by foreign service professionals from the
two countries, scholars and others interested in the Indo-Bhutan
including three former foreign secretaries of India, six former
ambassadors of India to Bhutan and officials from the Indian
ministry of external affairs.
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