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9 March 2007
Bhutanese refugees interned in make-shift camps in the Morang district of eastern Nepal are living in a tense state of siege after violent clashes with local villagers.
About 150 people were injured and at least three were killed after the refugees’ right to collect firewood for cooking was disputed by locals.
Until January 2006, the refugees were provided with kerosene by the UNHCR but this was stopped after it proved too expensive. Charcoal briquettes were provided as a poor substitute. The refugees resorted to leaving the camps for wood-gathering forays into the surrounding Pashupati forest until the Nepali government Department of Forestry passed an edict to empower local villagers to protect the forests. In an attempt to comply with the new rules forbidding them to collect firewood during daylight hours, the refugees began doing their firewood gathering at night.
On the evening of February 22 at around 9 pm, a group of wood gathers were interrupted and chased by a mob of angry villages. One 22 year old man, unable to escape, was beaten to death. The refugees report that his body was later found hacked into pieces. He was Gopal Khadka from the Sanischare camp. 5 other refugees were critically injured in the attack.
On Friday February 23, the refugees staged a demonstration, demanding funds for the treatment of the injured. Arming themselves with makeshift weapons, they exited the camp and attacked locals making their way to the forests. Residents of Pathari Village retaliated by invading the camp and setting fire to several of the bamboo thatch huts.
Police fired tear gas to break up the violence and bring order. Accusing the police of favouring the refuges, villagers stormed the Pathari police station, tossed furniture and files into the street and torched them.
Traffic on the Mahendra Highway through Morang district was brought to a standstill for several hours while Pathari and Sanischare villagers set up roadblocks by way of protest.
Police enforced a curfew from 4pm on Friday night for an indefinite time, in an effort to curb the spiraling violence.
UNHCR officials have called for calm on both sides and are speaking optimistically of offers for the resettlement of the refugees to third countries.
This is not the first time resentment against the presence of the refugees stranded in eastern Nepal has turned deadly.
In August 2006, three young men died after they ate fish from a pond that was commonly used for Christian baptismal services in what appeared to be a case of deliberate poisoning. A week later, poisoned candy was distributed among refugee school children. The plot was discovered by teachers before tragedy occurred. These events added to the refugees’ concern for their security.
For the past 16 years, over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees have been trapped in a state of limbo caused by political deadlock between Nepal, India and Bhutan that 15 rounds of diplomatic talks have failed to resolve. Desperation on the part of the refugees and resentment on the part of the locals has been mounting with the continuing inertia.
One refugee said, “There is growing despair. Some of us have become suicidal. Some of the girls have been trafficked into the sex trade. We have young people who speak excellent English because all they can do is study. But they can’t leave the camps to get jobs. So what good is all their study? Their frustration makes them depressed and some have turned to crime. We have no electricity, no clean water. Our health is deteriorating because we have such a poor diet and few medical supplies. We have been waiting for 16 years already and we cannot wait any longer. The whole place is a tinderbox that cannot be ignored any more.”
Rejected by Bhutan for being ‘too Nepali’ and unwanted by Nepal for being ‘too Bhutanese’, these are a forgotten people who were evicted and stripped of their citizenship and human rights. They are the descendants of Nepali settlers – known as Lhotshampa in Bhutan - who migrated to southern Bhutan in the 1890’s as part of British colonial strategies. They lived peaceably with the ruling Drukpas of northern Bhutan, who are of Tibetan descent, for several generations. But in 1989, the ruling despot King Wangchuk embarked on an ethnic cleansing campaign to arbitrarily establish an ideal of religious, cultural and ethnic homogeny in Bhutan. Nearly one sixth of the total population of 800,000 were forcibly evicted. This has made Bhutan one of the highest per capita refugee generators in the world.
Pure terror tactics were used to persuade the Lhotshampa to leave. By day the country appeared to be an idyllic Shangri-La. By night, sleeping villages were stormed by government troops. The men were abducted and summarily detained where they were beaten and tortured. The defenseless women were then assaulted by the soldiers. The men were returned to find that even the old women, young girls, pregnant women and those who had just given birth were not spared. Eventually, government trucks rolled into the villages and they were told to get on. The campaign of terror had broken their ability to resist. They were driven beyond the borders of Bhutan, dumped in the jungle and left to fend for themselves.
Robert Singh, of Autumn Rain Himalaya (Jesus Loves Gospel Ministries) has been working among the seven Bhutanese Refugee Camps for 16 years. He says during that time, nearly 10,000 refugees have come to know Christ. He travels frequently to visit his team of pastors who minister to the believers in the different camps. Robert reports that another death occurred when a young village boy was killed after rampaging villagers mistook him for a refugee. A few days later, on March 3, the body of young refugee girl was found just outside the camp. He says this death, which occurred in broad daylight, was not reported to the police.
Robert says that the people in the camps are starving. “No one is allowed in or out of the camps. The villagers have blocked the UNHCR trucks from reaching the camps with supplies. They are surviving on some dried animal flesh, but soon that will be all finished. I tried to reach the camps with food, but my Brothers warned me not to try in case I was killed, too. Some of the new believers have been driven to bitterness because of this. Yet they are all continuing to pray. They cannot sleep at night, because they are fearful of further raids by the villagers. It seems that the villagers just want them to starve to death. The refugees would leave if only they could. But where can they go? These must be the most unwanted people on earth.
“All they want is to go home to Bhutan. But if Bhutan continues to refuse, these people cannot be left like this any longer. I appeal to the international community to open their doors to receive these people and give them a home, a life and a future.”
Autumn Rain International says that these people have been languishing for 16 years with no rights. “The best thing would be for Bhutan to take them back. But there is great demonic darkness binding that land. The United States has agreed to take 60,000 over the next five years. My prayer is that more countries will also open their doors to these precious people.
"Please, please pray for the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.”
References:
http://www.alertnet.org
http://www.geocities.com/bhutaneserefugees/refugeesituation.html
http://www.geocities.com/ben_saul/BhutaneseRefugees.html
http://www.safhr.org/refugee_rights_nonregistered.htm
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