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1.2 King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck
Bhutan's hereditary monarchy was established in 1907 with support from the British.[16] Jigme Dorji
Wangchuck, the father of the present king, initiated major reforms and introduced democracy in the 1950s 1960s. The first 5-Year Development Plan was set in motion in 1961 financed by India.[17] The educational system was expanded nation wide and revamped in 1964 when English replaced Hindi as the medium of instruction.[18] Health facilities were likewise expanded and improved.
Witnessing the inexorable advance of China upon Tibet, Jigme Dorji turned to India for some measure of protection. In 1949, Bhutan entered into a Treaty with India and two years later, the invasion of' Tibet by China was complete. The Treaty created a porous border between India and Bhutan.[19]
Inspired by the Indian National Congress' struggle for independence from the British in India, the Bhutan State Congress was formed in the 1950s to press for democracy and abolition of discriminatory policies against the settlers in the south.[20] The failed attempt moved Jigme Dorji to adopt several measures to redress the situation.[21] A major step was the grant of citizenship to the people in the south under the 1958 Nationality Act.
1.3 Non-nationals
The 1949 Treaty opened the gates for people from north east India to enter Bhutan and the 1958 Law was an added incentive. With the launch of the first 5-Year Plan in 1961, Bhutan recruited foreign skilled workers and workers from India and Nepal to fill the labour shortage. National assembly, resolutions in the 1960s and 1970s indicated Government remained aware of the importance of controlling foreign
labour.[22] In 1982, World Bank estimates set the number of non-citizen workers in Bhutan at about 35,000.[23] During the 1988 census, the Government claimed to have discovered 100,000 non-nationals in the workforce.[24] Refugee leaders rebutted this, saying that Nepali road labourers who overstayed work permits had been deported between 1986 and 1988.[25] Nevertheless, non-national labour remains a features of Bhutanese development plans, and the number of non-national workers in 1995 was estimated at 30,000 including 10,000 Nepalese ethnic people.[26]
The Bhutan Government also argued that non-nationals were attracted by the free education and health facilities in the south. In 1989, 23 per cent of the students in the southern schools were non-nationals.[27] Since the Government had stated that there were some 10,000 marriages between Bhutanese and foreigners, children off such marriages would probably account for a certain proportion of non-nationals in school.[28]
1.3.1 Nationality Laws: Tightening
Up
The Bhutan Government began in the late 1970s to distinguish between nationals and non-nationals among the people in the south. The Government was alarmed at population developments in the south because of the 1975 merger of Sikkim and India and the bloody 1986-88 Gorkha National Liberation Front
(GNLF) uprising.[29] Nepalese ethnic groups were instrumental in pressing the merger and the GNLF demanded a separate Nepali State in North Bengal.
In 1977, the Bhutanese Government tightened the nationality laws. The 1985 law purported to fix 1958 as the cut-off date for immigrants to southern Bhutan. This was followed by a census in 1988 which was criticised on various counts. First, it was conducted only in the south. Secondly , people were classified into 7 categories but in reality, only those who fell into the first category were considered genuine Bhutanese.[30]
Thirdly, the census was said to have been arbitrarily implemented. Some people were stripped of their nationality even though they had lived in Bhutan for generations, simply because they were unable to produce the requisite 1958 land tax receipt.
1.3.2 Southerners Protest and Government
Reactions
In September and October 1990, demonstrations swept through the southern belt of Bhutan, in protest against two main issues. One was the unfair implementation of the 1988 census[31] based on the 1985 Citizenship Act. The other was the imposition of Dzongkha as the national language and
'driglam namsha', the Ngalong code of values and conduct, on the rest of the population in the name of creating a national identity as part of the sixth Five-Year Plan.[32] The concurrent decision of the Government to drop Nepali from the school curriculum, ostensibly based on the recommendation of a UNICEF report, was ill-timed and fanned the ire of the Southerners.[33]
Reprisal was swift. The Government labeled the dissidents as
'ngolops', or anti-nationals, and accused them of criminal and terrorist activities ranging from extortion and robbery to hijacking, kidnapping and murder.[34] Schools development projects and hospitals in the south were closed down while the army moved into the villages. Southerners were required to produce a No Objection Certificate
(NOC) for work and school. Organisers of the demonstrations and those suspected of supporting them were arrested.
1.3.3 Refugee Outflow
A trickle of people left the country in 1990.[35] By mid-1991, the trickle became a flood. People reportedly left because of eviction, intimidation or harassment by government officials, and rape, torture, beatings by the army and police.[37] Refugees also reported confiscation of citizenship cards, land tax receipts and other documents, being videotaped signing migration forms forced upon them, receiving inadequate or no compensation for their land and having their houses burnt down.[38]
At first, the refugees flocked to West Bengal and Assam in India where permission was given to set up refugee camps. However, Indian police harassment forced the people to move into Nepal.[39] This was a crucial move, as it allowed India to claim that it was an internal matter of Bhutan. In late 1991, Nepal enlisted the help of the UNHCR which provided emergency assistance to the swelling numbers of refugees.
The evidence indicates that the truth lies somewhere in between the opposing claims of the Bhutan Government and the refugee leaders. Nevertheless, according to refugee leaders and a survey conducted by the Nepal Government, at least half the households in the camps signed, voluntary migration forms which indicate, ironically, that the refugees concerned used to hold Bhutanese nationality.
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