The Foreign Ministry has expressed ignorance over a statement by the Bhutanese Premier that Nepal and Bhutan are “thoroughly investigating” the December 22 incident.

“We have no information on it,” Ministry spokesman Dr. Madan Kumar Bhattarai told Nepalnews Sunday. “We cannot give details as we have no information at all about the statement,” he said when asked whether Nepal and Bhutan reached an agreement to jointly investigate the incident.

Earlier, the online edition of Bhutanese state media, Kuensel, on Saturday quoted Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley, as saying that “the two governments will conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.”

“The two foreign ministers of Nepal and Bhutan will start discussions to clarify the situation so that we can resume the good progress we were making,” Thinley told Kuensel.

On December 22, refugees pelted stones at the Bhutanese joint verification team. Bhutan described the incident “an unprovoked act of violence”, whereas Nepal said the incident was “spontaneous reaction” and “emotional outburst” of the refugees.

Other reports said the incident occurred as the Bhutanese JVT announced “derogatory” pre-conditions for the repatriation of the refugees, which was against the mandate of ministerial joint committee.

During PM Surya Bahadur Thapa’s meeting with his Bhutanese counterpart Thinley at the sidelines of 12th SAARC Summit in Pakistan, both the leaders had agreed to resume the stalled talks at foreign ministers’ level, jointly terming the incident “regrettable”. nepalnews.com mr Jan 11