Bhutani refugees in Nepal had no illusions about the outcome of the joint verification team report on the interviews of families at the Khudunabari camp. But what they are shocked about is the disinterest shown by the Nepali government and the international community to what they say is stonewalling by the Bhutan government on repatriation.
If the Khudunabari results are anything to go by, most of the 100,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanis who have been living in camps in Nepal for the past 12 years will fall into the "Bhutanese who emigrated voluntarily" category set out by the bilateral Joint Verification Team.
Of the around 12,000 refugees at the Khudunabari camp, more than 70 percent fell into that group, which means loss of citizenship according to Thimphu. The Bhutani delegation at the 14th round of talks in Kathmandu last month has said that these refugees would be allowed to apply for citizenship and their case would be dealt with leniently. Human rights groups say the Nepali side was taken for a ride as Bhutan has a law that prohibits re-entry to those who emigrate voluntarily.
The majority of the refugees claim they were forced to sign forms saying they were leaving of their own free will before being loaded into trucks and taken across India to Nepal in 1991-92. "The question here is of trust. The Nepali ministerial delegation trusts the Bhutanese when they say they'll take back Cateogry Two people, but no one else trusts the Bhutanese," said one human rights activist here. Furthermore, the news that Nepal agreed to accept refugees rejected by Bhutan has fanned domestic and international outrage.
"We are aware of the criticism," says Foreign Ministry spokesman Madan Kumar Bhattarai. "We assure you, our naturalisation process is not easy. You shouldn't believe that so many refugees will become Nepali citizens."
In that case what happens to the majority of the refugees in the seven camps in eastern Nepal? Officials say the nitty-gritty details will be discussed at the 15th round of talks in Thimphu in August. Meanwhile the refugees stay where they are: in limbo.
