Bhutan Assessment 2002

Bhutan witnessed a year marked by the absence of significant terrorist activity. However, the activities of Ngolops (armed Nepalese dissidents) and Northeast Indian terrorist groups that have established their camps on Bhutanese soil continued to be a cause of serious security concern for the Himalayan Kingdom. Ngolops, referred to by authorities as anti-nationals, are people of Nepalese origin who claim that they are Bhutanese citizens forcibly evicted by the Royal government of Bhutan.

A major development during the year 2001 was the assassination of Budhathoki, an exiled Bhutanese national and chief of the Bhutan People’s Party (BPP), at a refugee camp in Kantipur, Jhapa district, in neighbouring Nepal. Budhathoki was killed by unidentified assailants on September 9, 2001. BPP General Secretary Balaram Poudel alleged at a press conference in Kathmandu on September 29 that the Royal Government of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck had masterminded the assassination in order to weaken the pro-democracy movement. Poudel claimed that the alleged assassin, Ram Chandra Subedi, a resident of the Pathari refugee camp in Morang, was an agent of the Bhutanese government. Meanwhile, Nepal police, on September 10, 2001, arrested an accomplice in the Budhathoki assassination. Shanta Bahadur Thapa was identified as the driver of the jeep in which the lone assailant and five of his associates escaped after the killing.

In a significant victory for the Royal Government vis-à-vis terrorists active in India’s North East, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) agreed on June 18, 2001 to shut down four of the nine camps they have been operating in that country, and to relocate their cadres to some other destination, by December 31, 2001. The agreement was preceded by two earlier rounds of talks between the ULFA and the Bhutanese Government, way back on November 20, 1998 and subsequently on May 7, 1999. At the June 18-round of talks, the ULFA also stated its intention to reduce the strength of its cadres in the remaining five camps. Bhutanese Foreign Minister, Lyonpo Jigmi Y.Thinley said, on October 15, that his government had warned the ULFA to shift its camps from Bhutanese territory by December 2001. He further said that the Bhutanese government would use force to evict the ULFA terrorists, if they failed to comply with their commitment to remove their camps within the stipulated time.

Available reports indicate that the ULFA has moved at least two camps out of Bhutan, and these have probably been re-established in the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh, in districts bordering Myanmar. Official sources disclosed that ULFA has shifted three main camps from the Kalikhola and Samdrup Jhonkhar areas of Bhutan to the Arunachal Pradesh border. Other reports have pointed out that under heavy pressure from the Bhutanese authorities, ULFA cadres are reportedly attempting to set up camps and bases inside Garo Hills of India’s Meghalaya State. ULFA cadres entering Barpeta, western district of Assam in India from their camps in Bhutan, cross the Bramhaputra river and proceed to the Goalpara district or West Kamrup in Assam and later move inside Garo Hills. The Royal Government of Bhutan has been applying pressure on various North east terrorist outfits like the ULFA, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) to remove their camps from Bhutanese territory.

In early December 2001, reports indicated that that the ULFA and the NDFB had also agreed to close down their training camps in Bhutan. Bhutanese Home Minister Lyonpo Thinley Gyamtsho stated that his government had held two rounds of discussions with the NDFB leadership, following which "they have agreed to close their camps but did not offer any definite time frame." He also added, "however, since the ULFA is a bigger outfit, once they retreat from Bhutan, NDFB will do the same." There have also been reports suggesting that the ULFA was planning to shift its General Headquarters (GHQ) to the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh. One report held that the GHQ would be run in the CHT from January 15, 2002, on a trial basis.

There have, however, been contradictory reports to the effect that there has been no tangible decrease in the presence of ULFA terrorists inside Bhutan.

On January 4, 2002, the Royal Government of Bhutan formally confirmed the ‘dismantling of four camps,’ including a military training camp, by the ULFA in response to the deadline set by the government. A spokesperson for the Royal Government indicated that officials have physically verified the spots where the camps were located and found that sheds have been demolished and camps dismantled by the ULFA. The abandoned camps included one military training camp near Samdrup Jongkhar. According to the spokesperson, the ULFA first abandoned its Nangri camp, located at Pemagattal, in November 2001. The camps located near Samdrup Jongkhar were, however, dismantled only on December 31, 2001. Two other camps vacated were the Goburkonda camp located near the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary and the Deori camp in Samdrup Jongkhar. The District Administrator in Samdrup Jongkhar visited the area on December 31, 2001, and is reported to have confirmed that the camp had been abandoned by ULFA. Unconfirmed reports of March 27, 2002, indicated that the Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuck visited the ULFA’s Phakupang camp twice – on February 15 and 16, in order to, persuade them to vacate the camps in the kingdom. The King reportedly had talks with ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and political advisor B. Borgohain on the issue.

India and Bhutan in their effort to check activities of terrorists and strengthen bilateral ties held a border district coordination meeting at Jalpaiguri in the Indian State of West Bengal between January 7 and 9, 2002. The meeting decided to take up immediate steps for the identification of the international boundary with realignment of the pillars which were missing and to share information about militants and criminals. The Government of Bhutan decided to construct a stone wall along the border, not to stop movement of the local people, but for security reasons as the border town, Phuentsholing, is being used by the militant groups active in West Bengal and Assam.

One act of violence reported against Bhutanese citizens, but on Indian soil, was the death in a bomb blast on July 31, 2001, of six Bhutan nationals, including five forest officials, and injuries to eight others. The blast was carried out by suspected NDFB terrorists at Dadgiri, along the India-Bhutan border in Kokrajhar district.

The problem of Bhutanese refugees living in camps in eastern Nepal continues to remain unresolved. The Foreign Secretaries of Bhutan and Nepal met in Kathmandu from November 5 to 8, 2001, and decided to hold further consultations as their respective positions did not ‘harmonise.’ The dialogue came to a deadlock once again with both sides sticking to their respective stance on the categorisation of the refugees. The focus of the negotiations between the two sides was on the verification process, which had commenced, but is moving slowly. There are approximately 10,000 refugee families living in camps in Nepal. Bhutan emphasised the categorisation of the refugees into four groups, while Nepal held the view that all bonafide Bhutanese citizens should be taken back. Nepal wanted only two categories – Bhutanese and Non Bhutanese, while Bhutan sought to add another two groups: Bhutanese who emigrated willingly and Bhutanese with criminal records.

A significant development in the Bhutanese polity was the inauguration, on November 30, 2001, of a Drafting Committee, representing the government and a cross-section of the people, to prepare a ‘written’ Constitution for Bhutan. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck explained that the objective behind the move was to ‘ensure the sovereignty and security of the country and to enjoin upon the people of Bhutan peace, prosperity, justice and fundamental rights’.

Yet another important development with implications for governance and internal security was the enactment of a new Civil and Criminal Procedure Code of Bhutan on July 28, 2001. The Code comprises of 44 chapters and has three major sections – general procedure, civil procedure and criminal procedure.