His Majesty the king of Bhutan

Tashichhodzong

Thimphu

Your Majesty,

May I at the very outset, express my deepest gratitude for the Royal granted to me on the 17th December 1999. I am obviously happy to be a free man from over a decade long confinement. May I in all humility, however, say that I have never placed much importance on myself or reward for me personally or for that of my family. Even today I would be most happy to trade off my freedom and life in securing a fair and just solution that would allow our people to live in peace and perfect social harmony and our destiny to ensure stability, peace and prosperity.

Your majesty is well aware of the fact that, while in service I had privilege of enjoying Your Majesty's trust and confidence which encouraged me to actively work in streamlining and institutionalizing mechanisms that had vital importance in the development process of the country. Decentralization policies, need for Citizenship Card, Royal Civil Service Commission, Family Planning, Druk Air, National Police Training, Women's Association, Regular Reporting of all the ministries to the National Assembly, Reorganization of the Planning Commission, Block development committees, Government officials to be barred from owning business enterprises etc were some of the issues of national importance in which I played an active role in facilitating and formulating policies and helped translated them into realities. Various other issues I dared to raise in the Assembly had direct bearings on the long run development of the country.

Most important, the audit investigation I was commanded to carry out by Your Majesty had such far-reaching consequences! I continued to believe that I would be granted an audience to enable me to clarify my position because I believed then and still do that I was victimized by a few corrupt officials against whom I had gathered sufficient evidences to prove them guilty. Your Majesty is well aware about those who have victimized me and hence my innocence. Hence, I beg to submit this appeal to your Majesty to seek justice and offer my selfless services towards Tsa-wa-sum.

In the appeal of 9th April 1988, twelve years ago, I had harbored the best of intentions with true national interest at heart in seeking Your Majesty's royal redress to the genuine concerns of the Lhoshampas without compromising our proven loyalty and commitment for sovereignty, national and territorial integrity. While my release vindicates the charges labeled against me and sufficiently proves my innocent on the one hand, a sincere soul searching exercise needs to be given a top most priority by the government on the other hand.

I continue to believe that it was my moral duty as an elected representative to the Royal Advisory Council, to bring to Your Majesty's knowledge the misgivings regarding series of measures introduced by the Government that threatened the very foundation of the family and social life of Lhosampa citizen. The policies were framed clandestinely, as has been evident during the decade long national crisis, ignoring the concerns raised by National Assembly members and other representatives from the south. The 1985 Citizenship Act set the chain of events that led to the problems, about which I had submitted an appeal for Your Majesty's redress. The following paragraphs outline the major issues I had raised:

1. The implementation of the Citizenship and Marriage Acts during the census of 1998 gravely affected the Lhotshampas. For instance, under the 1977 Marriage Act, the offspring from a Bhutanese father were automatically granted citizenship. The 1985 Citizenship Act however, brought about inconsiderate amendments stipulating that both the parents were required to be Bhutanese Nationals for their children to be considered as Bhutanese citizen by birth. It further stated that, "promotion shall not be granted to a Bhutanese citizen married to non-Bhutanese beyond the post he or she held at the tome of his/her marriage. Moreover, any Bhutanese citizen employed in the National Defense Service or in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall be removed from such services after his/her marriage to a non-Bhutanese and that they are not entitled to education or training abroad". I feel it appropriate to recall your Majesty's statement at various forums and even that of late Majesty, on numerous occasions, "that under no circumstances will they want to see any family or their citizens spilt into two nationalities under the same roof". However, the confidence and national pride generated by the late Majesty's benign policy which were effectively given continuity by Your Majesty were undermined by the then census exercise.

   Considering the geo-political situation and the size of our population, such an Act was and still is the call of the day out but the problem lies in its implementation retrospectively from 31st December 1958. (The first ever census taken in the history of nation was in 1964 but the need was not felt then!). This result in the deprivation of national status of a large segment of the population of Southern Bhutan, particularly children. Despite the Marriage Act of 1977 provided citizenship to provision of the 1985 Act made stateless even those subjects who have been serving the Royal Government for number of years. The provisions of the Act of 1985 if had been implemented as deterred tools for future rather than punitive ones may have been a desired Act for a small country like ours.

2. The problem assured the present proportion when 1985 Citizenship Act in the from of a Census in 1988 was executed only in the five southern districts of Bhutan. The insensitive manner in which the exercise was carried out did not conform to the benign policies of your Majesty as it disregarded the integrity of the people and denied them of their inherent rights as citizens of the kingdom. Although I had outlined the following in the appeal of April 1988, I still would like to recall them to Your Majesty.

   • The terms comprised of raw hand without any experience in handling such a sensitive and fundamental issue like that of citizenship. They questioned the Lhotsampas with undue threat and classified them into numerous categories.
     

   • The census teams demanded that people produce evidence of their having settled in the country before 1958, even going to such an extent of asking old people with children and grand children born in Bhutan to provide evidence of their arrival in Bhutan. It is difficult for the villagers to produce evidences on the spot, as they cannot be expected to carry them like ornaments or rosary! In many instances, the Citizenship Identity Cards that had been already issued were either confiscated or withdrawn arbitrarily.
     

   • The Yardstick used in ascertaining citizenship was "any documentary evidence what so over (land ownership deeds or document showing sale/ gift/inheritance of land, tax receipt of any kind, etc) evidencing that the person concerned was a resident in Bhutan in 1958. Hence, people who had been residing in Bhutan for generations were declared illegal immigrants because of non-possession of such documents of that particular year. Failing to reproduce such documents rendered many people stateless following which they were forced to relinquish their nationality.
     

   • The gups, chimis, and chokpas formerly considered proficient and authentic sources in census matters were not taken into confidence in testifying the credentials of their village heads in suggesting some rational ways of conducting census were censured.
     

   • Several methods were used to coerce the innocent and illiterate villagers into signing documents written in a language they were not familiar with and thus the contents of which were not known to them. This, to a great extent, intimidated and instilled and a sense of insecurity and fear among the villagers.

   The above issues raised were based on the factual information provided by the people's representatives of the South. By virtue of being the elected people's representative in the Royal Advisory Council and National Assembly, I felt my inherent duty to bring the grievances of the people for Your Majesty's compassionate consideration. My conviction was and remains that a few over-ambitious census personnel were creating the problems. I was personally thanked by Your Majesty at the time of submitting the Appeal and assured in the presence of Lynpo T Tobgye that the Government did not intend to divide the family. On hearing about the deplorable situation, Your Majesty had also said that decisions on the matter would de taken once Lyonpo Om Pradhan returned from China.

   A sudden visit was arranged by those officials who were irked by my role in the Audit and Investigation through which I had conclusive proof of their misdeeds. Hence, no prior information was given to the aggrieved persons that a royal redress was being considered. At the same time the administrative officers in the south were apprised of Your Majesty's visit and were instructed on a prescribed course of reporting. The officials organized a drama where only the un-effected people were produced in front of Your Majesty just to prove that I was mis-leading the government.

   I do not see any reason why we the elected representative were not allowed to accompany Your Majesty during the visit of the area we represented in the Royal Advisory Council. Further, I was not allowed to attend the cabinet meeting, of which I was a member, after Your Majesty returned from the visit. I was not given an opportunity to submit the documentary evidences, which were given to me by the people for remedy.

   My efforts were to bring forth the problems that would have had such far-reaching effects on the peace and tranquility of the kingdom, which was the function of the Royal Advisory Council. A clause in the set of rules and regulation for functions and responsibilities states that if any person, including His Majesty the king, does anything harmful to the interest of the Tsa Wa Sum, Royal Advisory Council without suppressing such matters shall bring it to the attention of His Majesty the king and, if required, even report it to the Cabinet and the National Assembly without fear. Instead of applauding me for bringing the problem to Your Majesty's notice in time and protecting me against the wrath of the corrupt officials who were implicated in the widespread corruption cases, which I had unearthed, I was declared anti-national and charged with drafting seditious literature. Perhaps I was too close to the truth and knew a bit too much about the crafty designs!

   The moment of truth hit me hard, as I was relieved from the responsibilities I was entrusted without any benefits, The action was a mockery of the elected post as I was terminated without giving me an opportunity to present my point of view and the procedures for such an action was not obviously observed. It was extremely difficult for me, as I had a lot of pending cases of the people who were disappointed and on the other hand the associates to kill me, Though I was given security cover because of life threats the very security personnel, at the behest of the then Deputy Home Minister raided and confiscated all the valuable documents that I possessed. After which under a very humiliating condition I was taken into custody for further interrogation in June 1988.

   I was tortured and humiliated personally by the then Deputy Home Minister. He was overjoyed by the fact that I was imprisoned instead of one of his corrupt relatives. Such vested interest lobby was working overtime to see me destroyed and broken completely so that I could never be a threat to their designs. I was informed that henceforth I would not be allowed to meet any high-ranking authorities with out the permission of the Home Ministry let alone audience with Your Majesty, which I fervently requested.

   After stripping me of my post, Dasho Dago Tshering snatched away all the valuable files which contained the audit and citizenship documents, memos, confidential reports and other documents given to me the Southern Bhutanese representatives which I was to present to Your Majesty for information and action. After three days of imprisonment, I was coerced into signing a document written in Dzongkha, the language I do not read and understand. It supposedly barred me from attending public functions or meetings with more than three peoples at a time or faced life imprisonment or leave the capital within 48 hours.

   With no alternative, I went to Gylephung and tried to admit my children in the school but headmaster informed me in no uncertain term that my children's admonition in his school or for that matter any school with Bhutan was impossible, as per the instruction of the Department. I felt very insecure for my life and that of my family, as my residences was always crowded with people seeking justice, and it contravened the Genja I was coerced to sign in custody. The anti Rizal and anti Lhoshampas lobby was growing powerful by the infused by their success in making me an escape-goat and added to the fact that I was not given an opportunity to proved my innocence and sincerity. Under the circumstances, I decided to go in exile to a secure place and seek avenues in furthering my children's education. I initially went to India but felt that I could fall in the hands of vested interest groups playing with the sentiments of Bhutanese and Bhutan. Then the circumstances compelled me to seek refuge in Nepal where I had hoped to lead a normal life temporarily.

   Back home, the pains of innocent Lhotsampas continued to multiply because of series of measures target by the over-jealous administrative machinery. Fresh from basking in the succeeded of hushing- up the census and in absence of any intervention by your Majesty due to misinformation scheme of the vested interest group, more ambitious designs wee implemented. Instead of making effort's to restore the social order, measures were crafted and implemented to systematically de- populate the southern belt. The measures included:

   • Impositions of Driglam Namza without sufficiently educating the general population on its important to a country like ours.

   • Proposed creation of so called green belt, one kilometer wide east- west afforestation program along Indo- Bhutan border in the South, with the covert objective of uprooting thousands of Southern Bhutanese from their ancestral homesteads.

   • Implementation of Cadastral survey and declaring sizeable portion of land holding of southern Bhutanese as illegal. Otherwise there is no reason why the modem method was not used as a mechanism to update the records in comparison to the traditional land survey which was considered authentic till then, but was implemented with the sold intention of declaring landed property as surplus so that they could be seized in one or other pretext. No doubt the modem methods are essential but their introduction with a retroactive intentions are questionable.

   • The Pending wages of many labors working in government sponsored projects.

   • The problems of free labor in the form of Gundawoola, Septolemey, Chunnidom etc.

   • Deconsecrating of Hindu temples, prohibition of religious practice and cultural hegemony, and bringing Hindus under the subjugation of the Buddhist Monk body, an intrusion on the most personal sentiments of ones' religion.

   • Withdrawal of Nepali language from school curriculum.

   • Widespread partiality against southern Bhutanese in appointment promotions, training further studies, and random retirement and termination without following the established procedures.

   • Systematic persecution of southern Bhutanese and purported dissidents of the Government.

   • Empowerment of government officials in the name of decentralization rendering the public represented organs like National Assembly and Royal Advisory Council as toothless because the most of the paramount matters were blocked at the Dzongkhag level only.

   • Lack of redress mechanism for public grievances as the Courts failed to entertain the public litigation cases and the access to Your Majesty, the highest court of appeal, was virtually non-existent.

   All these measures applied with vigor and ambition falsely interpreting Your Majesty's vision of one nation one people as "one nation one (only drukpa) people'' compelled many student leaders and intellectuals to leave Bhutan in search of safe sanctuaries.

   My desire as a social worker to work for the betterment of people and the country led me to accept the post of chairmanship of the Human Rights Organisation called People's Forum For Human Rights in November 1988. The charge labeled against me as an ambitious person is vindicated by my desire to be part of such an Organisation rather than forming a political party. The support and faith pledged on me by the student's leaders and civil rights and restoring the national integrity of Bhutan.

   Unfortunately, before my peaceful agenda could materialize I was illegally arrested by the Nepal Police and handed over to Aide- de- camp from Bhutan at the Tribhuvan international Airport on 17 November 1989. I was quite happy to see the ADC hoping that I would be produced before Your Majesty but I was bundled like a common criminal and held as a hostage under absolutely abnormal conditions. Although, I repeatedly requested for an audience with Your Majesty, regrettably, I have not received one till date. I had to undergo test of untold endurance for three years before I was produced in the farce court trial with fabricated charges.

   Disregarding my pleas to meet Your Majesty, I was handcuffed, shackled and lodged in a prison cell in Dechhencholing, where I was toured inhumanely by officials who should have been in prison for corruption charge if only I had been allowed to present the evidences to Your Majesty in 1988.

   Under untold torture, I was taken to Rabuna prison in Wangduephodrang without any formal trial and incarcerated in a dark prison cell incommunicado for almost 30 months. There were five other human rights activists detained along with me , on fabricated charges, through Amnesty international, I believe, had declared all of us, prisoners of conscience. Four of the detainees were released without any formal trial after three years bud I alone with one prisoner was detained further under inhuman and deplorable prison conditions. The pang of hunger thirst was unbearable, as I was given little or on food or water to drink. I hear now that the outside world was given a distorted picture of the comfort that I was entitled to during my incarceration.

   During my imprisonment and with and the passage of time, the Government continued to implement its irrational and racist policies instead of taking of corrective measures. Outraged by what they saw as a campaign of repression, the victims of government's short- sighted policies mounted a series of demonstrations in an effort to drive home their long vented suppression. Instead of seeing reason, the government however, blatantly ignored the public grievances and employed force to crush the popular uprising for respect of human rights, which later took the shape of pro-democracy movement. The government machinery ran amok and was involved in loot, plunder, rap, and loss of life and property. The peaceful uprising was quelled by brute force. Then, the government changed the strategy and started using various ways of intimidation so that the ethnic cleansing policy came into effect. The measures included among others:

• Arbitrary detention and custodial deaths

• En-masse arrests and torture in detention centers by special officers employed for the same.

• Students identified as special targets

• Indiscriminate shooting at innocent people

• Terrorising the people at gun point

• Making people sign the Voluntary Migration Form under duress

• Religious intolerance and interference

• Revocation of citizenship and seizure of the documents proving their status

• Unprecedented termination of civil servants.

• Forceful evictions of innocent citizens rendering them homeless and stateless.

The claim by the government that all these people had voluntarily migrated is very absurd as it is beyond reason to believe that thousands of people would decide to migrate voluntarily within a space of few months. Another allegation that the exercise was pushing out the illegal immigrants is beyond my comprehension as we had such a stringent procedure of regulating the entry of non-Bhutanese. Apart from it , the view that people had come to Bhutan in search of better avenues cannot be justified, as we had to levy tax to discourage the migration of Bhutanese from the southern district to adjoining areas of Assam and Bengal in the 1970s. Besides, as a Labour Recruiting Officer, I know that the labours recruited were Bhutanese nationals, which later took the form of national labour force. In mid eighties, many families forfeited their original small land holdings to join the National Labour Force as the Government lured them with promises of free schooling for children, land and other benefits, which clearly negates the charge of illegal immigrants labourers.

Three years later, I was taken to the High Court, Thimphu for a farce court trial. I call it farce because of two reasons:

1. Home Ministry officials played foul by making me accepts a statement prepared by them as mine. Before the trial, they called me to the office and produced a paper allegedly written by me. When I refused to accept, they asked me to make amends to the write-up, which I did. But, after I had finished changing almost everything they started shouting and abusing me, charging that I had spoiled the write-up which I was supposed to read only. I was forced to copy the original in ditto in another sheet of paper, which I did because I had no choice since I was a prisoner and they were the officers empowered to anything with me. In fact, I never realised that they were tricking me to make this as my statement in the court in my own handwriting!

2. I was charged on the basis of National Security Act, which was promulgated 1992, almost three years after my arrest.

On the first day my trial, the judges read out the supposed charges against me and was given a charge sheet all based on activities that took place after my arrest. No deliberation took place on that date and it hardly lasted10 minutes or so.

after a week, I was brought to the court hand-cuffed and the judges announced that an equal opportunity would be provided to the parties, my prosecutors, and me. The court declared that I could seek legal assistance of a JABMI.. I was shocked to find that in three years they had redefined the role of JABMI to eyewash the international community. Earlier, the JABMIS were nothing but representatives on behalf of the members of the Royal Family at times of court cases.

I declined the court 's offer of a Jabmi and decided to defend myself as I was assured that equal opportunity and importance would be given to gather and produce the evidences in the court. It was a big responsibility for me as I was totally cut-off from the outside world for more than three years and I had little or no knowledge about the information that was relevant to my case. The influence of the Mechanical Apparatus used to torture me continued to discomfort me, and I was always hungry when I was produced in the courts. But, it never struck to me that the whole business was a drama and was indeed all along a one sided affair. What could I expect in a court case in which the entire government machinery was working overtime to persecute me?

During the trial, I was not given the opportunity to produce my witnesses but could only defend myself against all the fabricated charges based on accounts of stooges of the vested interest group and counterfeit documents supposedly signed or written by me. I tolerated all of them as I firmly believed that I shall have the opportunity of presenting my plights to Your Majesty. The judges had promised me that I should be allowed to appeal to Your Majesty within 10 days of the judgement.

Finally, the High Court declared its verdict, albeit painful, that I was to be imprisoned for life, However, Your Majesty overruled the verdict of the High Court saying that I should be given another chance and the matter be postponed till the outcome of the dialogue, that was due, between Bhutan and Nepal.

Following Your Majesty's over- ruling of High Court's verdict, I was incarcerated in Chemgang Jail, where many Lhotsampas were being detained without trial. As I had no personal interaction for several years, I did not have much access to the intensity of the problems that had plagued our country. It was from these inmates that I could update myself to some extend on the turning point that the nation had taken. In the course of my incarceration, the injustice, and the type of treatment meted to my fellow prisoners, and me, led me to sit for hunger strike on several occasions with the main purpose of seeking an audience with Your Majesty. In this regard, I petitioned to Your Majesty of the seriousness of the issue at hand and the future course of action to be taken. To this, the then Home Minister dismissed it as slanderous and blatant allegations against the Government and squarely held me responsible for inciting the revolution. Without any redress my incarceration continued and I had to spend my life under deplorable conditions. The inhuman treatment when to such an extent that I was not allowed to perform the after-death rituals of my father who expired during my imprisonment.

The problem of refugees and disputed or ambiguous nationality are associated with the misunderstanding created by vested interest group between the people and your Majesty. I believe that the country shall be saved from embarrassment in the international arena if we all see reason and solve the problem on our own. The based on international pressure will be short-lived and might lead to further complications. At a time, when National sovereignty is at stake the services of the people who are capable of not only enhancing the image of our country but also protecting the territorial integrity is desperately needed.

I have taken the liberty to outline the following course of action, which will go a long way in resolving the crisis and fostering goodwill and peace, but most importantly safeguard our national sovereignty.

• It is my firm belief that the most Bhutanese refugees now languishing outside Bhutan are innocent victims of circumstances that were beyond their control and hence they should be back where they belong. On return, my plea is that these ex-refugees be rehabilitated and reinstated in their former legitimate homesteads, land, and properties with appropriate compensations. The on-going exercise of allotment of the properties of those refugees must be summarily stopped.

• The manner in which the Security Clearance is administered has rendered many of our people immobile, disadvantaged, and disillusioned. It is requested that the Security Clearance be administered on an individual basis by examining individual's record rather than those of the other family members from the same 'Tham'. The application must be provided with adequate legal back-up given them the choice at recourse to legal services to prove their innocence of allegations, if any. Those proven guilty, in a court of law and in accordance with the rule of law, for any crimes, may be prosecuted in accordance with the laws of the land.

• Some of the people, who have been released after their jail term or upon receiving Your Majesty's gracious amnesty, are still stateless. It is requested that their census be regularized and their former properties to them to enable to live a dignified and productive life.

• The undersigned has during incarceration, experienced appalling prison conditions, many of which were very inhumane, I request Your Majesty to direct the concerned authorities to revamp the prison and detention procedures to convince them and the outside world that we respect them as human beings.

• In spit of the fact that Your Majesty is accessible for the ultimate dispensation of justice, to each and every wronged citizen, many people with genuine concerns are often turned away. The channel to an audience with You Majesty must be properly instituted so that any citizen that has failed to secure a satisfactory ruling from any party or the judiciary can still have access to Your Majesty.

• Since 1990 people have been recruited in the army, often against their will to be mobilized in the southern region. I have apprehensions about their effectiveness in serving the country specially when they are recruited against their will.

• Many innocent people in the course of the refugee problem have either died or are missing while in police/army custody. The cases of such people must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.

• The dream of Your Majesty for Bhutan to become `one nation-one people's possible only when there is respect, tolerance and accommodation of each ethnic group's values like culture, religion, institutions, language and dress that are so vital to each community as well as the nation's unity and existence. The groups have to co-exist in their diversity. This norm and practice must protected and promoted for time to come.

• To counter recurrent crime and violations of rights of citizens in our country the judicial system must respond to emerging needs and aspirations of the people. Every day a human or civil right in Bhutan goes violated but un-addressed. Safeguards to ensure individuals civil and human rights as well as the obligations of public institutions, such as the judiciary, the police, to protect individuals and group must be instituted and improved. Monitoring agencies like human Rights Commission, Amnesty international and Red Cross offices be established in Bhutan.

• Representation of all communities in National Assembly and Royal Advisory Council must be proportionate to the population. At a time when the government is charged with partiality against Lhoshampas, the Government has substantially reduced representation. To generate an atmosphere of goodwill and trust, it would be appropriate to reorganise the Assembly constituencies and representation in the Royal Advisory Council.

• The political reforms initiated by Your Majesty are a positive development in the history of our nation. However, representation of all the communities in bureaucracy and Cabinet should have a broad social base to ensure a pluralistic society. The National Assembly and the Council of Ministers should nurture and safeguard the aspirations of the Bhutanese people in upholding the principles of equality, fraternity, liberty, justice and rule of law.

• Census exercises must be conducted for all the Bhutanese by forming ''National Census Committee''. The members of the committee should encompass all the ethnic communities.

• Serious consideration should be given to the Driglam Namza and reviewed by a Committee.

• Review of Citizenship and Marriage Acts should be carried out by an impartial and competent committee based on International Convention and instruments.

• The 1958 citizenship law should be the guiding and governing basis to resolve all citizenship issues.

• The persons, allegedly ex-army personnel are detained at Rabuna prison should receive fair hearing and trial. They are being detained without trial and visitation from their relations. The Government should furnish the whereabouts of their relatives.

• Many detainees are camped in jungles and fields belonging to high-ranking officials. Such an illegal and inhumane practice should be stopped and detainees should be lodged at proper prison and punished only for crimes proven in the court of law. No other agencies be allowed to take the law in their own hands.

• The Government should review and follow the International Instruments like International Declaration on Human Rights, to which it is a signatory.

• Your Majesty is aware that the country has progressed over the years to modern path through the sweat and blood of Lhotshampas and many of them who are now in exile as refugees were still occupying high posts in the bureaucracy at the time they were compelled to leave or flee the country. Hence, I would like to impress upon Your Majesty that questioning and harbouring perpetual suspicions on the nationality and citizenship status of Lhotshampas has been most humiliating and insulting to us.

• The setting up of the Joint Verification Team (JVT), to start the process of identification of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, is a positive step towards solving the long festering refugees issue. But I have strong reasons to doubt the sincerity of our Government in the verification process, as it has not stopped resettlement of other people in the lands of the refugees.

I am writing this appeal to Your Majesty as no one dares to speak within the country about the above matters of great concern and consequences to the country and all means of access are blocked for educated and visionary citizens to express their free and opinions.

I believe human beings hold and cherish same values, and if there are differences they are more due to societal and circumstantial conditions. I hold the view that these differences are temporary and can surely be negotiated and comprised. I also believe in the inherent goodness of mankind. We are singularly blessed with the power of reasoning, and the ability to see reason. We must not fail to use this power to reason and react for the larger good of our people.

I am also certain that every community, given an atmosphere of goodwill, has a contribution to make to enrich the country, add to its variety and to the wealth of the nation. We cannot, however, always remain wedded to the past. We must learn to advance to the future with open minds and enlarged hearts. I hope to empress upon Your Majesty the urgency and inevitability of resolving the problem in spirit of national reconciliation, and help in the return of all Bhutanese citizens now forced to live in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal to their rightful place, duly compensated, to enable them to live in mutual trust and social harmony.

I do not believe that delaying a solution will serve our national in any way. To my mind, any solution crafted must be based within the parameters of national sovereignty, pluralistic society, and human dignity. Moreover, if we have learnt from our misadventure of the past, never again must the country be allowed to go through the painful experience of such nature.

As much as I appreciate Your Majesty's support and goodwill towards me in the past, I look forward to Your Majesty's continued support and co-operation as I commit myself to move forward, with malice towards none, to bring the issue of finding a fair, reasonable, lasting and durable solution to our problem as priority number one in our national agenda.

Needless to mention that Your Majesty has the vision, wisdom, and courage to take bold initiatives to resolve the crisis engulfing the nation, amicably. In this context, I may add that on numerous public speeches, and interviews to the media, Your Majesty has declared that the crisis will be resolved through Your Majesty's personal intervention, and the National Assembly has bestowed its trust and confidence on Your Majesty for the same.

Please accept, Your Majesty, the assurances of my highest consideration.

I beg to remain,

Your Majesty's loyal subject,

(Tek Nath Rizal)

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