Bhutanese refugee leaders began an emergency meeting in the capital Monday morning to discuss the mysterious murder of a prominent exile leader in Jhapa where 100,000 refugees are living in UNHCR administered camps for more than a decade awaiting repatriation. Four persons have so far been arrested for investigation, police and refugee sources said.
K. Budhathoki was hacked to death with a khukri at a party meeting in Damak by a refugee and fled with at least four others in a waiting car. Police have blocked exit routes to India to nab other suspects, police said. Budhathoki was founder and chief of the Bhutan People’s Party fighting for democracy in his homeland.
The refugee community in Nepal is deeply divided. ” There is a conspiracy. It could be the work of external elements. We will have to wait and see,” said Rakesh Chetri, a refugee leader. Budhathoki espoused the cause of Bhutanese refugees at international conferences.