Bhutanese refugees' American dream

The plight of the Bhutanese refugees cannot be viewed as another tribute to the attractive sphere America is so well known for, nor can it be regarded as an opportunity for those above mentioned Lutheran and Catholic social organizations to provide a few more "lost" souls with salvation.
Mr. Shukla has it right, once again. The refugees have endured quite enough, what they really need is room to breathe, the chance to embrace America on their own terms and weave their own legacies.

TSH- I never heard of Manoj Sunwar, but I fail to see a connection between a death under police custody and all these conclusions that are being drawn from it. Death in police custody is something that happens on a daily basis in India and Nepal and Pakistan etc. In Bhutan you have ONE name and a LOT of conclusions.

Yes there are no mass graves in Bhutan, and incidentally, there are no long lines of people demanding to know where their missing relatives are. Do you know why? Because these ‘missing persons’ are all hearsay, someone else’s relatives, repeated verbally here and there. In actuality, you won’t find a single person who can claim legitimately that so and so has been missing for 20 years. The only person locked up was Teknath Rizal and just look at the brouhaha that came out of it. He has now become the Amnesty International’s ‘prisoner of conscience’, yes the very person responsible for causing the misunderstanding between the people and the government, and probably because they just don’t have enough candidates to choose from.

Yes, I will accept that the immigration policies were not applied in the most professional or even humane way and you may have undergone ‘the real plight’. That however, is still not proof you are Bhutanese.
TSONDRUNAMKHA – please don’t lump all things Bhutanese into one basket that you can conveniently despise at a go. The eviction of illegal immigrants of 20 years ago does not change the fact that most of Bhutan is still devoutly Buddhist and peaceloving and most had little to do with how the immigration policies were implemented. And regarding GNH, the only person preaching it all over the world, for his own benefit mostly, is our Prime Minister, so if you want to accuse anybody of hypocrisy, please reserve it for him. Bhutan is now a democracy and he does not speak for all Bhutanese.

Well said Mr. Shukla!

But I am quite surprised with so called Mr. Bhutan here. I doubt he was in Bhutan and now, too. Who said there are no mass graves in Bhutan? There would be if free analysis and evaluation would be allowed inside Bhutan. For instance many of our friends who were arrested and died due to Third Degree torture in Thimphu ( Chamgang Jail) before the cenrtal jail was built up. Where are those people arrested from Yabha, Sibu, Samtse. Oh Mr Bhutan can u tell me....Where is Monoj Sunwar who was beaten to death by Pasang the Police constable at Samtse Central jail? Where are those elderly people arrested in the accusition of anti-nationals and killed and never returned? So, Mr Bhutan the mass grave is yet to find out. And it seems you are already scared of it.
How dare you tell the plight of the Bhutanese refugees is just a vacuous echo!The one who has undergone the real plight knows what exactly it is not someone fed to massacre the Humanity in the world.

Dear Mr. Shukla,

I can't thank you enough for writing this high-profile article. Countless times I have read about Bhutan in only the most glowing terms. I myself glorified the place because my Buddhist teacher had had tremendous insight on retreat there long ago. He died before this travesty occurred, and when I found out about it myself, I tried to educate my fellow students in the Shambhala International Buddhist church about it, because they were supporting and promoting the Bhutan government's Gross National Happiness and other agendas. But when I When I tried to talk to them about it, I was dismissed, and then reviled -- right here in North America! There are still too many people in this world who are stakeholders in the success of Bhutan to continue its hypocritical propaganda of GNH and its image as the last bastion of Mahayana Buddhism. Thank you, thank you, for not being one of them, and for helping educate everyone.

The discussion is right on and great.

There seems to be some biases here.
There is a legitimate bias from the Bhutan insiders, that now envy the refugee's resettlement in different countries. There is another bias from those who want to capitalize by proselytizing fellow refugees.
Ask the folks who are now in their fifties to seventies about the free labor(called Jharlangi) one had to do to dig the highways in Bhutan that are available now. Just because the people lived in the southern foothills and because they spoke Nepali, they had to work for free. Besides there are accounts of people having to wake up in the middle of the night because a Dasho wanted to go to Damphu, a southern town in Bhutan, but the roads were blocked by landslides. These incidents occurred in the parts of Bhutan that were inhabited by the very ones that have now come to the US. Yes, I was told this by my elders and don't think that they ever lied about it. However angry and envious you might be by looking at the progress the refugees are now doing, thats the ground reality and you cannot undo it anymore.

To TARLE_SUBBA -- i don't know what you want me to read about the so-called 'careful sourcing of info and evidence'. what evidence do you have AT ALL? Besides hearsay that is. Even the UNHCR, the very organization responsible for setting up the camps did not have a clue as to how to distinguish nepalese coming from bhutan from the nepalese in nepal. Worse, they never bothered to even make a system of distinguishing the two for about half a year, the very period during which time the camps ballooned from a few thousand to about 90,000! What evidence??
You ask "should all ethnic cleansing be identified only through mass graves?" Well the problem is that the term 'ethnic cleansing has been used rather loosely after Bosnia and especially in the case of Bhutan. If not mass graves, what other proof do you have of ethnic cleansing in Bhutan? Someone commented that bhutan kicked out 1/6th of its population....says who? Who knows for a fact the real citizenry of those who left? most people in the region surrounding nepal and northern india are 'stateless' by definition if you consider that so many people don't have a document to prove who they are. so who went and decided they were bonafide bhutanese?

A year ago, the NY times touted the Bhutanese government's novel economic measure -- gross national happiness. Based on four pillars and 72 indicators, former king Jigme Singye Wangchuck concocted GNH as an alternative to gross national product. But the religio-ethnic cleansing of Bhutanese Hindus begs the question of whether religious freedom and basic human rights are part of the happiness equation, and if so, for whom?

Thanks for bringing attention to an important global issue.

To Mr.Bhutan -- please read the Hindu American Foundation's latest, annual human rights report -- http://www.hafsite.org/resources/human_rights_report -- and note the careful sourcing of information and evidence. As to not there being mass graves, I ask you, should all ethnic cleansing be identified only through mass graves? What a horrible idea and what utter ignorance of the nature and means of ethnic cleansing. Please visit the refugee camps in Nepal that house displaced Bhutanese, and read about the efforts of Europe, the U.S. and Canada, and Australia to find new homes for the ethnically cleansed Bhutanese Hindus.

Well said, Dr. Shukla!

Thanks to the writer. Only a few people really know what happened in Bhutan in 80s and 90s.And Bhutan doesn's allow any journalist, so there is no way other countries know what is happening there. India the largest Democracy has vested interest in Bhutan, so protects it even if there is Human Right violation and America doesn't see oil field, so doesn't care. Bhutanese Government is a PUPPET of India, so dances as per her directions.The Southern Bhutanese people are one of the most deprived people. Mr. Bhutan tries to cover Bhutan's face, but a day will come when he needs what The Southern Bhutanese needed in 90s.
On the other hand the resettlement process has brought these people in America and they need real help. Some Churches give help but on conditions, that is instead these people have to go the church or study Bible. These churches take advantage of the poor people's situation. Why can't they give real help?

Mr. Shukla, Thanks for your high profile write up on Bhutanese refugees living in america. More then one sixth of the total population of Bhutan were evicted at the gun point during early 1990s by implimenting the policy of ethnic cleansing by the then Bhutan's cruel King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. Their mere fault for such inhuman punishment was to appeal for end to discrimination towards southern Bhutanese.

Since then those evicted population of Bhutan were living in various UN aided refugee camps in eastern Nepal and now due to third country resettlement program they started resettling in various eight developed countries as US, UK, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Bhutan has been able to hide its notorious crime till today but as the refugees started getting attention from high profile international medias as newsweek in their respective country of resettlement Bhutan's true colours will definately be exposed. But refugee should work very hard to mobilise supports and solidarity towards their cause against injustice.

Bhutan has been saying that its citizens are the most happiest people in the world and it is offensively propagating the philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) coined by the same person who committed ethnic cleansing, Jigme Singye. When more then one sixth of its population were living in hardest miseries in refugee camps, when more then 80% of its population are leading a life under poverty line where they are hungry, illiterate, unhealthy and are deprived of basic life saving facilities how dare some elites in Thimphu (Bhutan's capital) claims that its people are happiest in the world? Did Jigme Singye and others ever allowed any international independent institutions to enter and verify its hollow claims? NO, it never allow because of they are afraid that their crime will be exposed in the outside world. They dont allow tourist to visit southern bhutan for fear of finding the real truth on ethnic cleansing. In the pretext of preserving its unique culture and nature it forbids international visitors from visiting places of their interest rather it plans itself for the tourist and provides guides from the government with strict instruction. Tourist were not allowed to meet the common people freely and talk as they wanted. Why is it necessary?

Mr. Shukla, Bhutan has to be booked for its crime against humanity one day or the other. Till now Bhutanese refugees and their cause was always in shade due to various reasons but now with third country resettlement the situation has started changing in their favour. They need immediate justice. They spent most miserable life in slums for two decades and that is also without any fault of them.

Therefore i request international justice loving people in all wakes of life to kindly work to expose their cause and help them to get justice.

Thank you very much Mr. Shukla.

The author is right on. Bhutanese regime is pushing propaganda and western relationships to kick these people out of their own home and country. And church groups are ready to oblige too. Just look at the number of missionary groups "working" in the refugee camps of Nepal & India. Their charity work is just a front for increasing size of their cult by hooks or crooks.

The author is right on. Bhutanese regime is pushing propaganda and western relations to show as if those kicked out of the country are not Bhutanese. And teaming up with church groups are also paying off, as they have indirect hand in taking these refugees to western country with aim of proselytization. Just look at the number of church groups "working" in refugee camps in Nepal. Posing as charity groups, these missionaries' sole intention is to increase their cult size by hooks or crooks.

oh boy, another man discovers an old lie and suddenly finds himself stimulated by a new cause. To make it worse, he has added a religions dimension to it.

Mr Shukla, before you so readily lap up all the lies about ethnic cleansing and rape, which incidentally have never been proved, why don't you do some of your own research and prove it really happened before you repeat them like a vacuous echo? Bhutan is not Bosnia. You won't find a single mass grave. All you will hear are the same old stories repeated from ear to ear and father to son until it reaches the gullible ears of people like you.