Sikkim: Winter in Bhutan usually ushers in a period of quiescence with the icy winds from the Himalayas driving people indoors to the warmth of electric heaters and Bukhari is It is time to take stock and toss the powerful locally-distilled brandies. But this year winter has brought no respite. Its ethnic war in Bhutan: Native Bhutanese versus ethnic Nepalis both groups locked in a desperate battle for domination.
“The name of the game is power” says the country’s foreign minister Dawa Tsering. “The leaders of the Nepali Agitation have been pushing in and nurturing illegal Nepali migrants over the years with the ultimate aim of outnumbering the native Bhutanese
And numbers according to him are going to count in the future as the country evolves towards greater democracy. The kingdom already has a legislative body the 154-member National Assembly of which 109 members are elected “
It is either them or us” agrees Kinley Dorji editor of the country’s sole newspaper the government owned Kuensel While admitting that the governments drive to extradite illegal Nepali immigrants is harshi, he says that there is no other option.
“In Sikkim Nepali migration completely upset the balance and its original upset the balance and its original inhabitants became a minority and lost all power” Dorji explains. “No country not even the United States will allow its culture and the demographic balance to be destroyed by outsiders.” For the country’s ethnic Nepali population too its a desperate battle for domination
The leaders of the Nepali dominated Bhutan Peoples Party (BPP) which has organized resistance against the government claim that Nepalis already constitute a majority in the country and that the monarchy must give in to their demand that it make way for democracy. In other words they believe it is time that Nepalis rule the country.
The hills of southern Bhutan where ethnic Nepalis are in majority have joined the battle “Members of the action wing of the BPP termed militants or Ngo tops (pronounced no lops).
But the Nepalese have been raiding government institutions looting stores and liquidate according to a report prepared by the royal government on anti-national activities in southern Bhutan.
Ngo lops have been involved in 33 cases of murder 174 kidnappings and numerous other cases of extortion and assault as on September 1991. The government has been compelled to deployed a major portion of its 6000strong security force in the south The king of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuk has been personally touring the south to raise the morale of the country forces and drum UP support for the government rack-down on illegal Nepalese immigrants
The king has been so tied up that he missed the previous SSARC summit in Colombo and declined the offer to hold a summit at Thimpu.
The Nepali militant’s t00 have not let up the pressure. Last year there were at least 49 instances of security forces being ambushed. Several automatic rifles stenguns and cases of explosives have been seized by the militants
The government also estimates that as many as 688 pieces of firearms (mostly country-made guns) have been stolen from southern. Bhutanese villagers
But security forces especially the Royal Bhutan Army claim Considerable success against the: militants. Several hundred militants and their sympathizers have been rounded and assorted makes of rifles and pistols along with grenades and home-made bombs: recovered.
The greatest success the B.P.P appears to have is in the administration crisis it has precipitated in the country’s southern districts Due to mass absenteeism the government has been forced to lose 76 of the 80 schools in the southern districts
Article extracted from this publication >> January 24, 1992
