Editorial (August)

India’s stance
Exiled Bhutanese and their well-wishers had expected that this time India would open its mouth but it went exactly opposite thereby leaving enough space to question on her so-called democratic values in the South Asia region. To be fair, India cannot continue keeping absolute Druk regime under its armpits citing that the exiled Bhutanese issue is a bilateral deal between Nepal and Bhutan. Now exiled Bhutanese want to question the stakeholders in New Delhi why it had inhumanly dumped Bhutanese people at the Indo-Nepal border loading them in trucks during early 1990s. And, why she restricts them from returning to hometown, Bhutan via the same route. Was that her strategy to remain sidelined from the issue? Does she simply want to see these people getting assimilated in third countries? This isn’t a fair and impartial initiative if India really claims to be one of the biggest democracies of the world.


India’s stance
Once again the exiled Bhutanese issue is overshadowed by political lords in New Delhi. This is because the 42-member delegation from Bhutan led by Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley returned home, after official visit to India, even without discussing a single word regarding the protracted crisis.
The tactical plan of New Delhi and Thimphu to see exiled Bhutanese getting assimilated in third countries is gradually working. Or else, these concerned governments would have discussed the issue during the meet. Exiled Bhutanese do not expect that the latter would show interest in discussing the issue with the former but it was the responsibility of India to draw Bhutan’s attention towards expediting the repatriation process since she is regarded as one of the biggest democracies of the world.
Exiled Bhutanese and their well-wishers had expected that this time India would open its mouth but it went exactly opposite thereby leaving enough space to question on her so-called democratic values in the South Asia region. To be fair, India cannot continue keeping absolute Druk regime under its armpits citing that the exiled Bhutanese issue is a bilateral deal between Nepal and Bhutan. Now exiled Bhutanese want to question the stakeholders in New Delhi why it had inhumanly dumped Bhutanese people at the Indo-Nepal border loading them in trucks during early 1990s. And, why she restricts them from returning to hometown, Bhutan via the same route. Was that her strategy to remain sidelined from the issue? Does she simply want to see these people getting assimilated in third countries? This isn’t a fair and impartial initiative if India really claims to be one of the biggest democracies of the world.
It should not be forgotten here that the more India tries to remain out of the scene in this issue, the further complication it generates. Thimphu is never going to accept ‘refugees’ languishing in Nepal as its citizens unless New Delhi speaks. India is left with no option than to press the Druk regime for expediting the repatriation process after resolving all sorts of political flux inside Bhutan.