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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
Ethnic Nepali Tension Worsens
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Foreign Broadcast Information Service, July 2, 1991
Hong Kong: Native Drukpa-Ethnic Nepali Tension Worsens
</hdr>
<body>
<p>[Report by Marie-France Rouze. Hong Kong AFP in English 0351
GMT 28 Jun 91]
</p>
<p> [Text] New Delhi, June 28 (AFP)--The tranquility of the
Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has been broken by assassinations,
attempted murders and kidnappings that are threatening the
survival of the tiny nation as it tries to preserve its
traditional way of life.
</p>
<p> According to the official press and Bhutanese diplomats, in
the past year the south of the country has been the site of
some 23 assassinations, 170 kidnappings, dozens of attacks on
security forces and "countless" incidents of extortion and
banditry that are blamed on "terrorists" of Nepali origin.
</p>
<p> Travellers arriving from Bhutan, an isolated Buddhist
nation, have confirmed that the situation has deteriorated in
recent months.
</p>
<p> According to them, the ruling Drukpa community, disturbed by
the problems in the south and the official accusations of
terrorism against Nepali "anti-nationals," wants to assimilate
the Nepalis into the community.
</p>
<p> According to some travellers, the division between the
Drukpa and the Bhutanese of Nepali origin, who are Hindu and are
in the majority in the south, could turn into a civil war.
</p>
<p> The risk of this has increased since the government began
last year to arm civilian militias so they could protect
themselves against the "Ngolops," or "anti-nationals."
</p>
<p> The capital Thimpu has been hit by the defection of 10
senior officials of Nepali origin to Nepal where they charged
Bhutan's young king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, with discrimination
against their community and human rights violations.
</p>
<p> Among those who fled were Bhim Subba, whom the king had just
named to head the important power department, and Mandoj
Tamang, deputy director of the planning commission, whose
senior positions show that some Nepali Bhutanese have reached
the highest levels of Drukpa society.
</p>
<p> The government accused the defectors of embezzling money and
fleeing the country with cars and other goods that had not been
paid for, but Mr. Bhim Subba denied the allegations in an
interview with AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Kathmandu.
</p>
<p> He said he fled the country to protest measures to limit the
number of Bhutanese of Nepali origin and counter-terrorism
measures than include forcing parents to get a "non-objection
certificate" form the police to register their children in
schools and for farmers to sell their produce.
</p>
<p> The measures are necessary to ensure that families or
farmers are not linked to the "terrorists" or shielding people
illegally in the country, explained a Bhutanese diplomat in
India, one of the few countries with which it maintains
diplomatic relations.
</p>
<p> But experts on Bhutanese society have said the certificates
are in fact very difficult to obtain. Nearly all Bhutanese of
Nepali origin who are parents are unable to obtain the
certificates because of their irregular situation, which has
come about because of the permeable frontiers, the lack of
birth registration and the number of foreigners attracted to
the country by an abundance of land and opportunities.
</p>
<p> Life for the 600,000 residents of the mountainous country is
hard but food is available and there is little of the extreme
poverty found in neighbouring Nepal.
</p>
<p> Bhutan's current problems began in the early 1980s when the
king and his advisors, troubled by the growth of the nepali
community, ordered a census, expelled those residing illegally
in the country and imposed Drukpa clothing and conduct
regulations on the entire population.
</p>
<p> The expulsions led to the violence in the south of country
and accusations of violations of human rights.
</p>
<p> In Kathmandu, Mr. Bhim Subba said he left Bhutan because as
a "senior official," he felt it "highly immoral" to serve a
government that was persecuting people of Nepali origin.
</p>
<p> "It is amply clear that the royal Bhutanese Government had
never seen this issue as being one between dissidents and the
government but one between the government and all the people of
Nepali ethnic origin," he said.
</p>
<p> Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said the
Bhutanese dissidents can stay in Nepal and that the country
supports their "fight for democracy and their political rights."
</p>
<p> Experts on Bhutan say the root of the problem is the
difficulty of the almost medieval society of the Drukpas,
culturally and religiously closer to Tibetans than their Hindu
neighbours, to comprehend other peoples and civilisations.
"It's nobody's fault, it's a tragedy," one expert said.
</p>
<p> The Bhutanese have attacked the expansionism of tribes of
Nepali origin. A diplomat in Delhi recalled that in 1975 the
tiny Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim gave up its independence and
incorporated with India under pressure from the Nepali majority.
</p>
<p> They also remind people that some Gurkhas, a Nepal tribe
that united the country in the 18th century, have said they want
to create a Gurkha state including Sikkim, the region of
Darjeeling in India and the southern part of Bhutan.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>