Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat left for Bhutan Monday as the head of a Nepali team for the 11th ministerial level meet to discuss the Bhutanese refugee issue.
“Nepal will press for the speedy verification and repatriation of the refugees at the meet,” Dr. Mahat said prior to departure. Foreign Ministry Joint Secretary Gyan Chandra Acharya, Home Ministry Under Secretary Netra Bahadur Karki, Law MInistry official Kedar Paudel and Nepali joint verification team leader Sushil Shumshere Rana are other members of the negotiating team.
Only verification of 5,557 refugees of the 100,000 living in camps in east Nepal have been completed since the process began by a joint team of 10 members in March with critics saying the effort at the current rate will take 10 years to complete.
On the eve of Dr. Mahat’s visit, exiled Bhutanese leaders issued a 12 point demand asking Nepal and Bhutan to speed up the verification process for early repatriation of displaced persons who have been languishing in UNHCR camps for more than a decade. The refugees demanded the formation of an appeal court to look into complaints of people verified as non hutanese.
The refugees asked Dr. Mahat to press Bhutan to annul a National Assembly declaration to stop the return home of the refugees. The refugees have asked Nepal and Bhutan to make public the status of the refugees identified so far.