Kathmandu, Mar.12:The secretary level talk between Nepal and Bhutan on the almost one decade old Bhutanese refugee issue started here today. The meet is the continuity of the secretary-level discussion on the same festering issue the two Himalayan Kingdoms had held in the Bhutanese capital Thimpu last month.
“We have kicked off the meeting to a good start,” said Ugyen Tshering, Bhutanese Foreign Secretary who heads the eight member Bhutanese delegation that arrived here this morning. “We have set out the work plan for the next three days,” he added after the meeting with Nepalese side this afternoon.
Earlier, talking to reporters at Tribhuvan International Airport after his arrival this morning, Tshering said that the talk this time will focus on the technical aspect of the verification process of the refugees. “This was the subject we had started during the secretary level meet in Thimpu last month and we will continue it here.”
It was for the same verification process, Nepal and Bhutan in 1993 had agreed to categorise the around 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal into four groups – Bonafide Bhutanese who have been forcibly evicted, Bhutanese who have migrated, Non Bhutanese people, and Bhutanese who have committed criminal acts. Ever since, the two nations have held eight Joint Ministerial Level Committee meetings – the latest one in Kathmandu in September last year.
Since the fourth round of ministerial talks in 1994 till the seventh meet in 1996, the two sides could not meet eye to eye on their positions on the four categories. The disagreement cropped up after Bhutan denied to take back refugees other than the first category – Bonafide Bhutanese citizens – citing its legal provisions.
Bhutanese refugees, languishing in the UNHCR maintained seven camps in eastern Nepal, claim that most of them were forced to sign the voluntary migration forms before they were forcefully evicted from the Dragon Kingdom. After the eighth round of ministerial level talks held here last year, officials had said that Bhutan had become flexible on accepting the second category refugees.
After his arrival here this morning, Tshering, however, said that the harmonisation of the two countries’ position on the four categories of refugees is still an “ongoing discussion between the two governments.” The harmonisation of the two countries’ position on the four categories of refugees is something that will carry on till the last refugee is identified, said Murari Raj Sharma, Foreign Secretary, who heads the Nepalese delegation in the ongoing refugee talks.
During the Secretary level talk in Thimpu last month, Nepal had proposed the verification process of visiting camp by camp and interviewing the head of each refugee family. Then, the Druk Yul demanded time to discuss within the Bhutanese authorities some issues related to the verification process.
The ongoing bureaucratic level talk is believed to be a groundwork for the ninth ministerial level meeting that will formalise the verification process of the Bhutanese refugees.
The Nepali-speaking Lhotsampas (Southern Bhutanese) began to enter Nepal as refugees in 1990 after Bhutan launched its ethnic cleansing policy.