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The Crisis


Various ethnic groups and peoples have lived in perfect communal, religious and ethnic harmony for centuries in Bhutan. Never before, any instance of ethnic conflict, communal or religious clash at the people's level has occurred in Bhutan, which has become the hallmark of many South Asian nations and destroyed the very basic fabric of democracy in these countries. Tolerance, co-operation and compromise, had been the basic values of Bhutanese society. But since the 1980s the present Government has started sowing the racial seeds among its people. It has formulated and implemented a number of racist policies and programmes to depopulate and evict the Lhotshampa citizens of southern Bhutan. It is the present medieval, autocratic and despotic Government that has nurtured racist and discriminatory practices and attitudes to perpetuate in power. This has destroyed the very basis of existence of Bhutan as a peaceful nation.

Map of Bhutan More than 125,000 Nepali-speaking Lhotshampas of Southern Bhutan, nearly a sixth of the kingdom's total population of approximately 782,548 have been forced to leave or forcibly evicted from the country by the Government. This has made Bhutan as one of the highest per capita refugee generators in the world. As on March 2001, 98,886 Bhutanese refugees are living in seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal managed by the UNHCR. Rest live scattered in other parts of Nepal. About 25,000 Bhutanese refugees are living in Indian territories with out any help.

The roots of the current political crisis in Bhutan and the refugees lie in Bhutan's geopolitics and population politics. A study of various policies of the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) in the last two decades reflects the Ngalung/Drukpa dominated government's motive to uproot Nepali speaking Lhotshampa population from Bhutan and reduce their number by all means. Be it Drukpanization or Bhutanization programmes, Citizenship and Marriage Acts or NOCs/PCCs,all are directed against Lhotshampas of the south. It was a long standing and intrinsic ruling elites' security perception that the domestic demand for political change (democracy) would come from the Lhotshampas in the south. The south is bordered by the democratic India.

Moreover, the Lhotshampas are economically well-off and more educated than their brethren in the north and east. The northern border with China is closed. In order to pre-empt the demand for democracy, the government devised a clever strategy to depopulate the Lhotshampas from southern Bhutan. Hence, the Lhotshampas suddenly became the geopolitical scapegoats and security threat to the absolute monarchy. Thus, the government devised various strategies to bring about a favourable demographic balance favouring a Drukpa/Ngalung nation by reducing the number of Lhotshampas to around 25% and to prevent the demand for democracy from southern Bhutan. The failed implementation of the forced assimilation policies reinforced this insecurity. This resulted in denationalization, deprivation and virtual confiscation of Lhotshampa citizenship rights through manipulation of the Citizenship Act and through changing the definition of citizenship.

The current political crisis and the refugee problems owe their origin to the enactment of two racist and discriminatory laws, viz., Citizenship Act of 1985 and Marriage Act of 1977 and implementation of a number of racist and discriminatory policies. These laws and policies were designed to reduce the number of Lhotshampa population and their mass eviction. Citizenship Act Question of nationality and metho