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Bhutanese refugees to be treated like
Tibetan refugees
News of Nepal January 17, 2005
By Debendra Bhattarai in
Kantipur
Kathmandu, 15 Jan.:-- Government will "open the
way" for Bhutanese refugees to voluntarily travel to third countries
like Tibetan refugees. Internal discussions have started at the
Foreign Ministry for making simple procedures for their settlement
in third countries. "This alternative is being considered as a
compulsion after Bhutan has adopted a policy of procrastination in
accepting the refugees ," Foreign Secretary Madhu Raman Acharya
said. The repatriation process has been disturbed after a Bhutanese
team of a joint verification team returned home in December 2003
after an incident at Khudanabari refugee camp. "Even after an
agreement to start verification, Bhutan is demonstrating delaying
tactics by citing security reasons," Acharya said. "The refugee
problem is not a bilateral issue. It is a issue between the
Bhutanese nationals and its government. Nepal looks at is a
humanitarian issue." He said even though the refugee problem in
itself is an international issue and alternatives have to be sought
to highlight the problem. For the last 15 years, there is a
provision for Tibetan refugees to go to third countries to ease a
pressure. The policy does not encompass Bhutanese refugees. The
alternative procedure has been initiated to increase responsibility
of the international community. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Durga
Prasad Bhattarai said voluntary return, resettlement in third
countries and local resettlement are three alternatives for the
resolution of the refugee problem. He said discussions on third
country settlement is natural. newsofnepal/br
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Nepal Govt. to permit Bhutanese refugees to
migrate to third country
Kantipuronline.com January 16, 2005
KOL Report . KATHMANDU, Jan 16 -
The government says it will ultimately permit the Bhutanese refugees
to migrate to the third country if Bhutan continues delaying the
repatriation process.
According to Foreign Secretary
Madhuraman Acharya, indoor meetings have commenced to draft a new
policy to ensure a hassle free migration of the Bhutanese refugees
who seek a living abroad.
He said the government was drafting a new policy due
to the reluctance of the Bhutanese government to speed up the
repatriation process.
Acharya
further added that a similar policy was adopted earlier in case of
the Tibetan refugees.
The Tibetan
refugees living in camps in Kathmandu, Rasuwa, Patan and Pokhara
have been given official permission to migrate to a third country
for occupation purposes. The repatriation process of the Bhutanese
refugees abruptly halted after minor scuffle in Khudunabari Refugee
Camp in Jhapa and the return of the Joint Verification Team (JVT).
More than 100,000 Bhutanese nationals have bee living in several
refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang of eastern Nepal for the past 14
years. (snn)
Nepali news on Kantipur
daily news paper
dated January 16, 2005
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