Internationalize Bhutanese refugee issue’

Source: SANA

KATHMANDU - Former foreign minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, on Thursday, said the Bhutanese refugee problem would be solved if India took interest in resolving the decade-and-a-half old festering refugee problem.

“India says Bhutanese refugee issue is a bilateral one between Nepal and Bhutan,” Dr Mahat said. “India is apathetic to the refugee issue, since it has its own interests in Bhutan’s autocratic regime.” If India takes interest, the problem could be be solved, he added.

Mahat suggested it was high time the Nepali government moved ahead to internationalize the issue.
Bhutanese refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal, also said that the problem cannot be solved bilaterally.

He claimed that the Bhutanese government’s attempt to put up a new constitution for approval through referendum is nothing but a ploy to hoodwink the international community. “The referendum doesn’t hold any meaning, as half of the people in Bhutan are still illiterate.”