Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed utter disbelief towards the comments of some Bhutanese high officials relating to the verification of the Bhutanese refugees which has been posted in the online edition of Bhutan’s newspaper ‘Kunsel’, the RSS reported.
The Kunsel reported recently in its online edition that the Bhutanese dignitaries have put the blame on Nepal for the slow pace of verification of Bhutanese refugees living in seven different camps in eastern Nepal.
Referring to the joint verification exercise already undertaken in one of the camps, the spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry of HMG said the exercise is initiated with the understanding that it would bring the refugee problem to its logical conclusion.
The spokesperson has further said the very fact that the joint verification of the refugees in the camps was agreed to by Nepal clearly shows her intention not to impose any non-Bhutanese people on Bhutan.
As everyone knows, the Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal are under the care and maintenance of UNHCR. A number of other aid agencies and INGOs are also involved in taking care of the refugee population on humanitarian grounds.
It is simply beyond one’s imagination how of all the places in a refugee camp could be a place for someone’s voluntary choice of residence. As far as Nepal is concerned, we are eager to dismantle the camps at the earliest possible, he said. A more flexible Bhutanese stand on how to deal with the refugees would greatly facilitate the bilateral process to come to fruition, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said there is no need to clarify how a democratic system forges ahead and why it should not be made a pretext for procrastination. Nepal is waiting for the 12th meeting of the ministerial joint committee to be held as early as possible and is even open for discussing the issue at other levels if Bhutan so wishes.
He reiterated Nepal’s full commitment to all the understandings and agreements reached between the two governments in the process of finding a resolution to the Bhutanese refugee problem, adding Nepal has always been frank and forthright in the bilateral talks with Bhutan on finding a just and lasting solution to the huge humanitarian problem as early as possible. nepalnews.com am July 12