The Royal Government of Bhutan, in its haste to refrain from growing international pressure, was quick enough to bring out colourful picture illustrations to project the Bhutanese people based in the refugee camps in Nepal as dissident groups, terrorists, anti-nationals, economic immigrants, displaced people, and contractual forest labourers and with other infinite synonyms. Two of the colourful illustrations published and presented as souvenir to the Heads of Government, Embassies and other International Organisations to emerge out as a clean winner and blame the poor Bhutanese people with refugee status as responsible for the Bhutanese turmoil are as follows:-
1. The Southern Bhutan Problem - “Threat to a Nation’s Survival”, published by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Thimphu in May, 1993.
2. A Brief Pictorial Summary of the Terrorist Activities in Southern Bhutan, 13 Aug. 1992 to 05 June 1993 published by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Thimphu Bhutan.
These publications floated by the Royal Government of Bhutan world-wide during 1993 could have really impressed the people with beautiful colour photographs and the type of paper used. The people who have never heard about Bhutan could have really held the Bhutanese people responsible for the brutality as depicted in the photographs. The government also declared the historical records of Bhutan as inauthentic by simply saying that the Southern Bhutanese people entered Bhutan only in the beginning of the 20th century. The history of Bhutan is known only to the Bhutanese people as Bhutanese history is never taught outside the periphery of Bhutan. Therefore, the Royal Government of Bhutan can easily make the international community believe that the Bhutanese people with refugee status are not the Bhutanese citizens but, not to the Bhutanese people.
(Photo 01) Bhutanese refugees in the refugee camp in Nepal. Do the people in the photo look terrorists?
The Royal Government of Bhutan also created a history through their publications by blaming the authenticity and validity of humanitarian organs like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In their presentation, the Royal Government clearly mentioned that the refugee camps in Nepal are filled with none other than the economically backward people from Nepal and India. The Royal Government of Bhutan perhaps, unaware of the immense task shouldered by the UNHCR not only to the Bhutanese people but to the World Community in distress, might have forgotten that all the Bhutanese people in the refugee camps are registered only after producing valid documents and citizenship cards by UNHCR officials, checked and rechecked by the monitoring agencies from the Government of Nepal. The Bhutanese Government is thus caught in the wrong foot at its own fault for exaggerating the issue.
(Photo: 02) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Antonio Guterres with Bhutanese refugees during his visit to Goldhap Refugee Camp, Jhapa on Wednesday May 23, 2007.
The Home Ministry went one step further to blame the Non-Governmental Organisations of Nepal like the Informal Service Sector Centre (INSEC); the Human Rights Organisation of Nepal (HURON), CVICT, Freedom Forum Nepal, and the Institute for Human Rights, Environment and Development (INHURED) for supporting refugees just because these organisations are the local organisations and the government found it easy to blame them. However, the Royal Government of Bhutan knowingly failed to mention the yeomen relief services rendered by the international organisation like the Lutheran World Federation (LWF); Save the Children Fund (UK); Oxfam etc. just to hoodwink the global family of peace loving people that Nepal is feeding and supporting her economically backward people to rise against Bhutan.
Though the Bhutanese refugees are financially handicapped yet our endeavour to counter the Royal Government of Bhutan's baseless propaganda through writ-ups and colourful blow-ups cannot be challenged. The Bhutanese Government through its publications is trying to cover up its ill-conceived design of "Divide and Rule" to the world-body by and large. However, the international community groomed and nurtured in the shadow of fundamental freedom cannot be taken for a joy ride by simply projecting Bhutan as a nation with distinct political and cultural entity which is a blatant lie when practice of politics is banned in Bhutan. The publications are the government's desperate bid to save its image on the issue of their human rights violations in Bhutan.
Bhutan is a country of immigrants and no ethnic groups can claim to be the original inhabitants of Bhutan. It is a country of multi-racial and multi-lingual society. The Ngalongs are of Tibetan Mongoloid origin and live in the north-western parts and speak 'Dzongkha' a language some what similar to Tibetan. The Dzongkha script is same as the Tibetan scripts and this fact clearly point out that the self-styled original inhabitants of Bhutan are in fact no one but the people of Tibetan Origin. They comprise about less than a quarter of the total population of Bhutan. The King and most of his ministers belong to this group. The Sharchops of Indo-Burmese stock live in the eastern parts and speak Tshangla-kha, a language similar to the one spoken by the people of the bordering Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. They constitute little less than a half of the total population. The Nepali speaking people inhabit the southern parts and form about half of the total population. They belong to the Indo-Aryan Family. About 2 % of the population is formed by smaller tribes such as Doyas, Brokpas, Khengpas, Adhivashis, and Tibetans etc. the Ngalongs and the Sharchops follow Mahayana Buddhism while the Nepali speaking populace and some Sharchops follow Hinduism and Christianity respectively. Although practice of Christianity is banned in Bhutan, people try to learn about Christianity through visiting missionaries and correspondences.
(Photo 3, 2 nos.) The children in the eastern village are seen in the photos taking meal after work. Nobody cares, if not they also have something to say.
The Home Ministry was quick enough to counter the historical evidence and facts about the presence of the Lhotsampas in Bhutan since the beginning of 1624 AD and alleged that the Lhotsampas were recent economic immigrants, without actually consulting the recorded historical facts in Nepal and India. It is worth mentioning here that Bhutan history mostly covers about the development of Buddhism in Bhutan and the institutionalisation of Buddhist culture to the few pockets of known ethnic class from the fortress called Dzongs mostly centred in Thimphu, Paro, Wangdi, Punakha and Bumthang - all in the central Bhutan. It hardly mentions anything about the people's movement within the country. Even the mention of Eastern Bhutan the home region of Sharchops in the recorded history of Bhutan is almost non-existent. The Sharchops are deprived of their religion, tradition and culture. Practically there is no developmental infrastructure in the Eastern Bhutan. Therefore, the non-availability of the historical mention of different ethnic people in Bhutan has given an advantage to the Royal Government of Bhutan to conclude that the Lhotsampas are the recent migrants and fool the international community, of their claim of righteousness. It can be generalised that Bhutan has tried to preserve the culture and traditions of the ruling elite only since its inception and the select lots of foreigners who got access to Bhutan left with the impression that Bhutan is the country of Ngalongs only.
The foreign visitors were and are still denied entry to Southern Bhutan and the Eastern Bhutan. Carol Hobson rightly notes in the article "The Sorry Side of Shangri-La" (The Royal Geographical Society Magazines; Geographical London, Jan 1993). traditionally, the fertile south, populated mostly by 'Lhotsampas', has scarcely rated a mention in the travel books. Conveniently, it is off the tourist map, and as the major centre of agriculture (producing 46 percent of gross domestic product in 1990) and other economic activities, it has been of little significance to those interested in Bhutan's Buddhist culture. The demographic battle in Bhutan launched by the Ruling Class on the pretext of protecting Bhutan and "Bhutan's survival as a distinct political and cultural entity" is nothing but a total farce aimed to safeguard the interests of the dynasty and the all absolute bureaucrats.
The few recorded historical books, except the religious ones, were written by the Indian and Western authors at the invitation of the Royal Government. These books are strongly worded to suit the interests and designs of the royal regime. Some of the new books authored by the tutors of royal family member were completely biased in exposing the rich culture presence of Ngalong tribes while the cultural diversity of rest part of the country remained ignored. Most write-ups about Bhutan by the diplomatic missions based in thimphu are polarised and cornered one side to glorify the magnanimity of rulers’ culture and their preservers. The fake generosity and politeness meted to the diplomats and foreigners by the ruling community is enough to create an image of indelible impression about the Bhutanese hospitality and repay them with their solidarity and wilful acknowledgement of the good deeds of Bhutanese Government. This is how the coffee table books on Bhutanese history is written or recorded in Bhutan. According to Finish Guide of Travel Writers - Helsinki, Finland 25 May 1994 "Bhutan allows only carefully selected journalists who will not write too negatively about the autocratic regime of Bhutan and are not interested in its poor human rights records".
The Royal Government of Bhutan's claim of Greater Nepal Diaspora and the Lhotsampas of Bhutan to be temporary labourers and economic migrants from the hills of Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Duars (India) and Nepal project Bhutan's reservation to the Nepali people from any country of domicile. The Government of Bhutan has no right to blame the citizens of another country by co-relating Bhutanese citizens with them. The government opines that its neighbouring regions with majority Nepali population are a threat to the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Bhutan. The bureaucrats or the ruling elite feel that the fate of Bhutan would be like that of Sikkim with a majority Nepali population. However, it may be recalled that Sikkim lost her independence due to Chogyel's own vested interest and not by the citizens of Sikkim. In reply to a letter addressed to King Jigme Singye Wangchuk by twenty five US-Parliament members on 30 July 1993, the king retaliated that the Nepali immigrants have successfully taken over political power in Sikkim and Darjeeling hills adjoining Bhutan in the west and are causing problem in the seven North Eastern States of India to the south and the east of Bhutan. This negative posture of the king with otherwise magnanimous personality reflects his oppressive political judgement and population disparity.
