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BHUTAN: THE HIMALAYAN BUDDHIST KINGDOM

HARALD NESTROY

Is the Executive Chairman from Pro Bhutan e.V., an association for development assistance in the Himalay Kingdom - http://www.probhutan.com/index_e.htm

Harald Nestroy has had a long and distinguished career in the German Foreign Office, including postings as Ambassador to the People’s Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Namibia and the Republic of Costa Rica. His first visit to Bhutan was in 1987, which was followed by 11 further visits, the latest being in December 2003. In 1992 Mr Nestroy founded the Humanitarian German Bhutan Hospital Foundation for the construction of the Punkha Hospital, which was opened in 1996. As Executive Chairman of the Pro Bhutan Association, he has been involved with further development of the hospital, building new facilities and a Training Centre for medical staff, as well as building schools with hostels for blind and hearing-impaired children.

Name and Geography

The origin and meaning of the modern name of this unique Buddhist Kingdom in the Himalayas, Bhutan, is cloudy as many other things Bhutanese. The name Bhutan was used by early British travellers in the 18th century and was transmitted into the official name of today. Does it derive from the name of the mountain herders, bhotias, who graze their yaks, sheep and goats from the west to the east of the Himalayas? Does it mean ‘the end of Tibet’, from Bhot-anta, Bhot being an ancient name for Tibet, and anta, meaning ‘the end’? Nobody is really sure. From as early as the 13th century, the Bhutanese themselves have called their country Druk-Yul or ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’, their King the Druk-Gyalpo, ‘the Dragon King’, themselves Druk-pa, ‘People of the Dragon’. Another name, ‘Country of Medical Herbs’, is said to have been given by the Tibetans who traded their needs in medical plants from Bhutan with its monsoon irrigated pastures and forests. Bhutan is a small landlocked country of only 46,500 square km, a little larger than Switzerland, with roughly 700,000 inhabitants. This official number refers only to the population of Bhutanese origin, leaving out a high number of additional immigrants. The original Bhutanese comprise 11 ethnic groups of very different size, with their own different languages. One such group has over 500 people. Dzongkha, the idiom of the largest group, the Druk-pa, is the official language. It is closely related to Tibetan and written in Ucän, the classical Tibetan script. Nepali, the idiom of the largest group of immigrants, is commonly used as lingua franca, even among original Bhutanese who do not speak adequate Dzongkha. English is spoken by everybody who has enjoyed a formal education. The Kingdom borders the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and Chinese Tibet. Lying on the southern face of the Himalayas, the altitude of the Kingdom ranges between almost sea level in the south and the many awe-inspiring ice peaks on the Tibetan border, the Kula Kangri being the highest at 7,554 m. Bhutan is one of the few Asian countries which was never a colony of a Western or any other power. The location of the ‘David’ Bhutan, sandwiched between the two ‘Goliaths’ India and China, has shaped the history of this tiny country. This vulnerable situation has, to a great extent, ensured the independence of Bhutan up to the present day.

Pre-Modern History

The early history of Bhutan is not based on archaeological or documentary evidence, but deeply connected with Buddhist religion and mythology. As in other Asian cultures, historical facts are interwoven with myths and legends. In the eyes of the Bhutanese, demons and saints were often more important than worldly rulers and Buddhist lamas. Since the 16th /17th centuries, the country’s history has been better documented, although many records which were preserved for hundreds of years in the monastery-castles called dzongs, built mainly of wood, were destroyed in fires in the 19th and 20th centuries. Much of the early history is based on reports of British explorers who visited the country in the 18th to 20th centuries, on legend and folklore, and on the few written records surviving in dzongs and temples. One of the most important events in Bhutanese history was the arrival of the holy Tibetan Lama Padmasambhava (the Lotus Born), also named Guru Rimpoche, in the eighth century. He was the founder of the Ningma-pa monastic order. Through his influence the Tantric Mahayana Buddhism became popular, replacing the ancient Bon religion which was the main religion throughout the Himalayas before the advent of Buddhism. In the 13th century, Phajo Druk-Gom Shigpo, a lama from Ralung monastery in Tibet, introduced the Druk-pa Kagyu school into Bhutan. Its founder, Yeshey Dorji, had chosen druk (dragon) to symbolise his new monastic order when he saw these mystic animals in the sky while he was consecrating an important monastery. Soon Druk-pa Kagyu became the predominant faith in Bhutan, and Druk was adopted as auspicious into the names of the country, the people, the King, and even today, of the Bhutanese Airline, Druk Air. Until the 16th to the 17th centuries, Bhutan was a disparate conglomerate of numerous small principalities, almost one in each major valley of this mountainous land. Their chieftains spent much of their energy and resources warring among themselves and with Tibetan warlords. Numerous monasteries were competing, less for spiritual, more for worldly dominance over the peasantry and for control over revenue from taxation. Things changed drastically in 1616 with the arrival of another lama form Ralung monastery in Tibet, Ngawang Namgyal (1594-1651). He was a descendant of the founder of Ralung, and recognized as the re-incarnation of Pema Karpo, the holy ruler-abbot of Ralung. But Ngawang’s position as the new abbot of Ralung was successfully challenged by a ruler-abbot from the new order of the Yellow Hats, the Gelug-pa with the Dalai Lama at its head. Many Druk-pa lamas fled when they were attacked by these rivals. Ngawang was just 23 years old when the powerful deity Mahakala, or Yeshey Goenpo, appeared to him in the form of a raven and sent him to Bhutan with a mission to teach Buddhism there. Thus the raven became a sacred symbol incorporated in the crown of the rulers of Bhutan, the Raven Crown. While teaching in every dzong and village in Western Bhutan, Ngawang gathered spiritual and political power. Once he had secured the support of most of the important aristocratic families, Ngawang started building the power structure of the country. With great energy he proceeded to construct a chain of large dzongs in the main valleys of Western Bhutan as centres of religious and civil authority. However, he had rivals. One of them called upon the King of Tsang in Tibet with his troops to help oust the interloper. In 1639 Ngawang crushed the challenger and his Tibetan allies. After this great victory he assumed the impressive title of ‘Shabdrung’, meaning ‘Precious Jewel at whose feet one prostrates’ and started the lineage of Shabdrungs in Bhutan. As supreme religious and temporal ruler of Bhutan, he introduced a dual theocratic system of government: a Head Abbot, the Je Kempo, administered the religious institutions; a high officer with the title Druk Desi - or, as the British travellers called him, Deb Raja - was vested with the civil authority. He divided the country into administrative regions headed by a Penlop (Prince-Governor), while Dzongpons administered at the local level. For the first time, a comprehensive system of laws was codified. Invasions by Tibetan-Mongolian troops in 1644 and 1647 were successfully repulsed and served to further unite the Bhutanese. When the Shabdrung died in 1651, the major part of Bhutan was united under central authority; five years later, Eastern Bhutan was also brought under full control of the central Government.

In an intricate power game, the Shabdrung’s death was kept a state secret for more than 50 years, because the temporal and religious rulers could not agree on a successor. The moment the death of the Shabdrung was made public in 1705, civil wars broke out, spurred by rival claims to the authority of Shabdrung. The unity of the country was eroded as the regional princes, the Penlops, took power into their own hands, warring against each other. This chaotic situation prevailed until the early years of the 20th century.

Modern History

The decline of Moghul India at the end of the 18th century allowed Bhutan to gain almost total control of the Indian principality of Cooch Behar, its neighbour to the south. Bhutan had annexed and fortified the 11 duars or gateways which gave access to the adjacent agricultural land at the border and the plains of Bengal beyond. The clash with the British East India Company was inevitable. The pretender to the throne of Cooch Behar, Khagenda Narayan, sought British help to oust the Bhutanese. A small British force was dispatched to the area in December 1772 and, despite heavy losses, uprooted the Bhutanese contingent from Cooch and captured two Bhutanese forts in the foothills (January and April, 1773). Alarmed by this unexpected defeat, the Deb Raja of Bhutan, Tshenlop Kunga Rinchen, called upon the Panchen Lama of Tibet to intercede with the Governor, General Warren Hastings. The result was a peace treaty concluded between India and Bhutan on April 25, 1774 in Calcutta. More significantly, Hastings, from now on, became more intent on extending British influence beyond Bhutan to Tibet and to the fabled land of China, which had remained beyond the Western reach. Hastings lost little time in sending the first British mission to Tibet. In May 1774 George Bogle, officer in the Bengal Civil Service, spent many weeks in Thimphu negotiating the passage to Tibet.1 His official report, mentioning - as a footnote - tea in Bhutan as universal beverage, encouraged the establishment of tea plantations in Northern India. The following missions to Bhutan were lead by Alexander Hamilton (1776 and 1777) and Captain Samuel Turner (1783), all aimed at improving trade between Bengal and Bhutan as well as Tibet, at the same time dealing with border disputes. Then, for a good 50 years, the British-Bhutanese contacts ceased.

In the mean time, the Bhutanese had turned their attention to Assam, which bordered the eastern half of Bhutan. While the Kingdom of Ahom in Assam was disintegrating, Bhutan had annexed the seven duars to the plains of the Brahmaputra. Meanwhile, the British, as a result of the Burmese war of 1825/26, gained control of Assam. The duars with their fertile land beyond were of great interest to the British, especially to the young tea planting industry. After a number of battles in the years up to 1841 the British annexed all the Assam duars, but eventually agreed to pay to Bhutan an annual compensation of 10.000 Rupees for its losses. Despite this agreement, there were intermittent border clashes over the following 20 years, culminating in the Second Anglo-Bhutanese War. From November 1864 British forces swept through the Bhutanese strongholds in the Bengal duars, which they controlled by March 1865. In the Treaty of Sinchula of 11 November, 1865 Bhutan gave up any claim to the 18 duars to Bengal and Assam against an annual compensation of 50.000 Rupees. The treaty stipulated peace and friendship between the signatories, and most important for Britain, open and duty-free trade between the two sides.

The two decades following this treaty saw progressive weakening of the central authorities in Bhutan and the increase of internecine conflicts between the regional princely rulers, the Penlops. The Shabdrung, in theory the supreme power, proved to be institutionally weak. As the successors were chosen by re-incarnation, usually as boys of two to four years, one of the Penlops ruled as regent until the new Shabdrung came of age. The abuse of power by the regents led to growing instability. The struggle for power centred on the two rival factions headed by the Penlops of Paro and Trongsa who, by the beginning of the 20th century, emerged as the strongest political figures. This instability in Bhutan was alarming the Anglo-Indian Government. Because with the expansion of the British Empire on the Subcontinent, one of the most important questions in this area was: would Bhutan seek an accommodation with the new powerful southern neighbour or maintain the traditional ties with Tibet, which was by now largely influenced by China. For some time Bhutan was able to keep a balance, but in 1903 the matter came to a head. The Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, became embroiled in the ‘Great Game’. In his efforts to counteract the Russian expansion between the Black Sea and the Caucasus, into Turkmenistan and possibly into Tibet, he believed the latter had to be brought under a certain degree of British control. So Curzon dispatched a large-scale military expedition to Lhasa under Colonel Francis Younghusband.2

While the Penlop of Paro was favouring the traditional ties with Tibet against British India, the Penlop of Tongsa, Ugyen Wangchuk, decided to offer his services as mediator and interpreter between Younghusband and the Dalai Lama. He accompanied the expedition to Lhasa. Despite two bloody encounters of the victorious British corps with the Tibetan army, the subtle mediation of Ugyen Wangchuk with the Regent and the Tsongdu, the assembly of the monks, ( the Dalai Lama had fled ) was successful: a new British-Tibetan treaty, confirming and enlarging the previous one, in particular favouring trade between Anglo-India and Tibet, was signed in 1904.Through this apparent success, and the subsequent support from the British side, the position of the Penlop of Tongsa within Bhutan was strengthened. John Claude White of the Political Service of the Viceroy, an extraordinarily gifted diplomat who had also been on the Lhasa Expedition, was sent to Bhutan. He was instrumental in getting the Penlops and abbots to agree to convert Bhutan into a hereditary Kingdom. On December 17th, 1907, Ugyen Wangchuk, the Penlop of Tongsa, was elected the first Druk Gyalpo, the Dragon King of Bhutan. Under his strong leadership, the country enjoyed, eventually, an unprecedented stability and the beginning of a fruitful relationship with Anglo-India.

As the Chinese efforts to gain influence in Bhutan and their claims to rights over this Kingdom grew, the Viceroy decided to develop a ‘blocking policy’ against this threat to British interests. Political Officer C.A. Bell3 was sent from his office in Sikkim to Punakha (the King had not agreed to have him reside in Bhutan), to negotiate a new treaty with the Druk Gyalpo. This treaty was signed on the 8 January, 1910. It stipulated de facto the full control of Bhutan’s external relations by the government of India, without however interfering in domestic affairs; and it doubled the annual compensation to be paid to Bhutan to 100.000 Rupees.

Bell was satisfied and wrote: “We have removed the Chinese threat for 220 miles off a very vulnerable frontier.” Nevertheless in 1911, Peking reasserted officially that Bhutan (as Nepal) was a vassal state of China! It based this claim on former contacts between Bhutan and the Amban ( the Chinese Agent) in Lhasa: gifts sent with Bhutanese visitors to Lhasa were interpreted as tribute payments of a vassal state, the acceptance of the Chinese imperial seal sent to Punakha as acceptance of Chinese dominance. Peking now even sent an official letter to Ugyen Wangckuk, addressing him only as Penlop of Tongsa, but ignoring his new position as King Druk Gyalpo, and informed him of their intention to station Chinese troops in the Kingdom. This was the first opportunity for the King to refer any such matter to Bell as Political Officer who advised the King not to respond at all. The Chinese threat became, for the time being, immaterial as in 1912 the Chinese were expelled from Tibet after a successful uprising. On the other hand, in a secret memorandum of the Government of India, it was bluntly stated to the Secretary of State in London “that Bhutan is a native state of India under the suzerainty of H.M.G.!”

Relations between the British Crown and Bhutan continued to remain friendly and fruitful - also under the second King, Jigme Wangchuk (since 1926) - until the Independence of India in 1947. As a result of Bhutanese diplomatic skill, the new Government of India recognized Bhutan as an independent state, and the Indo-Bhutanese Treaty, adopting almost unchanged the text of the Treaty of 1910 with the Anglo-Indian Government, was signed in 1949: India undertook not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom; Bhutan agreed to be guided by New Delhi in its external affairs. This move greatly contributed to the preservation of Bhutan’s independence, limited as it may be, up to today.

A revolt against the Chinese in Eastern Tibet in 1958 sent political shock waves across the Himalayas. The rebels established themselves near the Bhutanese border. Nehru, fearing that this might lead to a Chinese invasion of Bhutan, demonstrated the ‘special relationship’ between India and Bhutan, and visited the Kingdom. Following this visit, the Indian Government embarked on a programme of extensive economic assistance to Bhutan, based on strategic considerations. This included the construction of militarily important roads. During the nationwide rebellion in Tibet in the following years and the border clashes between India and China, Chinese military forces several times penetrated into Bhutan, while in Peking (Beijing) Chinese claims to suzerainty over Bhutan resurfaced. This led to a strong Bhutanese alignment with India right until today, starting with the training of the Royal Bhutanese Army by a permanent training mission of the Indian army, and the deployment of Indian troops and military advisors to Bhutan.

Domestic Development

The paramount tasks of the first 2 Bhutanese Kings were to consolidate the unification of the country and to establish a strong central authority. They were successful. With the accession to the throne of the third Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, in March 1952, a new era began in the history of Bhutan. The way was open to expand the structure of the state administration and modernize the society itself.

Among the first initiatives of the third King were the abolishment of serfdom and the beginning of important land reform measures in 1956. In 1968 he created the Council of Ministers, thereafter the High Court. The existing laws were codified. He established the Tshogdu, the National Assembly, as precursor of a parliament with rudimentary legislative functions: today it has 154 members, composed of 38 high civil servants including 10 cabinet ministers, 10 representatives of the monastic body, six members of the Royal Advisory Committee, and 100 peoples’ representatives elected indirectly - they are appointed by the village heads and other local dignitaries.

Bhutan today is dived into 20 administrative districts (the Dzongkhags) under the direction of a Governor or Dzongda who reports to the Home Minister. Only recently the Dzongdas have been drastically reduced in their power. Also on initiative of the present King, the decentralisation and empowerment of the regional and the local institutions on village level are strongly pursued. They take actively part in the preparation and execution of the “Five Years Plans” for the entire scope of Government work.

Although the Tshogdu is not yet a parliament in the Western sense - as is not voted in through general elections and as there are, as yet, no political parties which would compete for the votes - today this National Assembly has become a quite a strong institution. On the initiative of the fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, (in the throne since 1972), the power to appoint Ministers and, to the horror of many traditionally-minded Bhutanese, to force the king to abdicate in favour of his heir was transferred to the Tshogdu in 1998. The King gave up his de facto role as Chief of the Government; the Council of Ministers was significantly strengthened; the post of Prime Minister (Chairman of the Council of Ministers) established; every year another minister is elected in rotation by the Tshogdu. The Druk Gyalpo has gradually reduced his formerly omnipotent role to that of Head of State similar to that of H.M. the Queen of England. The King has ordered the formulation of a modern written constitution, which is now fairly well advanced.

A number of Bhutanese are worried that the speed with which the King is pressing for these reforms, is far too fast for a people who were living in medieval conditions a mere 40 years ago. Bhutan is a country which is visibly marked by both Buddhist traditions and material developments. The King is personally promoting the preservation of Bhutanese traditions in all aspects of life. But, of course, he is aware that there is no alternative to modernisation of his country. Thus, in 1999 national TV was introduced with three hours daily transmission, complementing the one radio station with its few hours daily broadcast and the weekly newspaper, all three being Government-run. The official media is still wary of foreign influence, but two years ago there was a breakthrough with access to international satellite TV. The Internet has also become accessible to all.

Economy

With a BSP per capita of just over $US700, Bhutan is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. The ‘Human Development Index 2000’ ranks Bhutan 124 out of 180 countries. But poverty is relative and Bhutan must be compared with neighbouring India in this respect. The original Bhutanese still belong to farming families none of whom are starving. Statistics do not reveal the whole picture, as many goods and services produced and exchanged in the rural areas are not reflected in the monetary system. It is true, however, that agriculture and animal husbandry, which provide the livelihood of most of rural Bhutan, are mainly at a subsistence level and cannot yet produce a surplus for cash income. Forestry is important in a country where more than 60 percent of the terrain is covered by forests. It is strictly controlled by the Government as part of its environment policy. Export of timber has been stopped since 1999 in the face of unlimited Indian demand and to promote the Bhutanese timber industry.

Bhutan’s hydropower potential is the most important single factor in the economy of the country. It is estimated to be over 30,000 MW, but by the end of 2001 only approximately 1.4 percent of that potential had been utilized. It is the largest source of revenue for the Government, comprising 45 percent of the total national revenue. More than 90 percent of the power produced is exported to India. Annual domestic consumption of power in Bhutan has been growing at an average rate of about 10 percent over the past five years. Domestic demand for electricity is now over 90 MW per annum; and more than 30 percent of Bhutanese households now have access to electricity. By 2005, when the Tala and Basochu Projects are in operation, Bhutan will have a hydropower capacity of 1,500 MW, which still means that only 5 percent of its total hydropower potential will have been developed. This industry will then contribute about 60 percent of the total annual revenue.

For the year 2002, the first year of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 7.7 percent as to 6.6 percent in 2001. Bhutan continues to experience a strong overall economic performance, with a fall in inflation to 1.8 percent, the lowest level in the last 20 years.

The contribution to GDP of the agricultural sector, comprising farming, livestock production, forestry and logging, is estimated to have fallen back to about 34 percent in 2002, after almost 36 percent in 2000. About 75 percent of the total labour force is involved in agricultural production.

The manufacturing, mining, and electricity sector contributed 19.3 percent of GDP in 2002, the electricity sector alone about 9.7 percent, a drop from 12 percent in 2001. The construction sector is estimated to account for 17 percent of GDP in 2002, rising from 15 percent in 2001. The performance of this sector largely reflects the work connected with the hydro-electric power projects of Tala, Kurichhu and Basochu.

Tourism is the most important sector of the revenue in hard currency. It earned a net US$ 8.4 million in 2002 (US4 8 million in 2001), reflecting an increase in the number of tourists to 6,100 in 2002 (5,500 in 2001) but did not recover the peak of 7,600 tourists in 2000. During the period of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, which began in July 2002, the economy is projected to grow at an annual rate of 8.2 percent, exceeding growth during the last period. This projection is based on the potential direct and indirect contribution of the hydro-electric power projects to other sectors, namely manufacturing, construction, transport, and trade.

In its foreign trade relations, Bhutan depends predominantly on India. 88 percent of imports come from India, 5 percent from Japan, but only one percent each from UK, USA and Germany. 97 percent of Bhutan’s exports go to India, of which a good 60 percent are covered by electricity. More exports, mainly agricultural, are going to Bangladesh and Thailand. The Bhutanese currency, Ngultrum, is linked 1:1 to the Indian Rupee. Therefore, Bhutan has very little scope for an independent foreign currency policy. The government pursues a prudent fiscal policy by limiting the annual deficit to a maximum of 3.5 percent.

Education and Health

Education has been one of the highest priorities of the Bhutanese Government since the 1960s. Until then, education was limited to the monasteries. State primary schools have been built rapidly, now covering the whole country. Two colleges and a teacher training institute followed. The Royal Bhutan University was established in June 2003. The education system is Government-run and free for all. Monastic schools have extended their curricula to meet social needs. On the initiative of the present King, all pupils are taught both basic knowledge and one of the handicrafts. The language of instruction is English, while Dzongkha is obligatory for all pupils. Besides teaching modern subjects, great emphasis is laid upon the conservation of the Bhutanese culture and tradition - literature, arts, architecture, language and customs. In the last decade enormous progress has been made to extend and improve public medical services which are free for all. Existing hospitals were enlarged and new hospitals built. The Basic Health Units - medical stations in the rural areas mostly inaccessible to motor traffic - were improved and enlarged. The number of medical doctors, paramedics and health-workers was considerably increased. The result is an impressive improvement in the health and life expectancy of the population. Foreign policy since 1960

With developments in Tibet since 1959, the third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk had to recognize that the time when Bhutan could keep its centuries-old, self-imposed isolation was over. He started a cautious policy of opening up the Kingdom to the outside world. This policy was continued by the fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, when he succeeded his father in 1972.4 In establishing bilateral diplomatic relations, Bhutan proceeded cautiously in order not to be drawn into international disputes and not to disturb the excellent relations with India, with whom it had established formal diplomatic relations in 1971 after being admitted to the UN. Bhutan has decided not to have formal diplomatic relations with the permanent members of the Security Council. However, it established full diplomatic relations with all the members of SAARC, including Pakistan, as well as with some Asian and smaller European countries. 5 Although it does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with China, since 1984 talks have been held concerning the demarcation of the Chinese-(Tibetan-)-Bhutanese border. Officially, there are no areas disputed by either side. Bhutanese diplomacy has successfully avoided any friction with China without giving up any rights.

The Ethnic Nepali Problem

Since 1989, relations with Nepal and, to some extent with the international community, have been burdened with the problem of Bhutanese refugees of ethnic Nepali background and of illegal Nepali immigrants, now living in camps in Nepal. A census conducted in 1988 revealed that the Nepali part of the population in Bhutan, living mostly in Southern Bhutan, had grown out of proportion, owing to illegal immigration mainly from the border areas of India (Assam, West Bengal, Sikkim) and Nepal. The population of original Bhutanese background were shocked. They saw the imminent danger of becoming an ethnic minority in their own country and losing their national and cultural identity. Overreaction, some drastic and indiscriminate measures, including violations of human rights committed by a few overzealous officials, led, up till 1993, to an exodus of many illegal Nepalis and a considerable number of genuine Nepali-Bhutanese.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) eventually set up seven refugee camps in South-eastern Nepal, now containing between 90,000 and 100,000 refugees. 10 percent of them were actually born in these camps. The background of this problem is the influx of Nepalese migrants into Bhutan which happened in two major phases: At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Government had employed Nepalis from abroad as contract labour to extract timber from the dense tropical forests in Bhutan’s southern foothills. Officially they were prohibited to establish permanent residence in Bhutan. As control was weak, however, they stayed on illegally as tenant farmers in the areas where the forests were cleared. By the early 1950s they had gradually settled in the southern districts and encouraged relatives and friends from abroad to join them.

Subsequently, the Bhutanese Government made efforts to integrate the eligible ethnic Nepalis living in the country. The Bhutan Citizenship Act of 1958 aimed to assimilate those who had lived in Bhutan legally for at least ten years, while refusing citizenship to foreigners temporarily working in the Kingdom. Many Nepalis were recognized as citizens and some even became officials; the Nepali speaking Bhutanese were given representation in the National Assembly; Nepali was introduced as the second official language and taught in the primary schools in southern Bhutan where most of them lived.

The second major influx of ethnic Nepali migrants into Bhutan began after 1961, when Bhutan started to modernise its economy, creating new job and business opportunities. This attracted massive illegal immigration through the long and porous border in the south. Many of the new immigrants were again closely related, by family ties or caste, to Bhutanese of Nepali origin. In the early 1980s, helped by poor administration in the south and by officials of ethnic Nepali background, many of these illegal immigrants obtained Bhutanese citizenship cards through fraudulent means. In this way, many of them acquired land and property. Tensions had started when the Government became aware of the size of this problem, and then felt compelled to act to preserve the national identity which it saw threatened. The principals of Dringlam Namzha - ‘traditional values and etiquette’- were introduced. Civil servants at work, citizens at all public functions and visiting public offices, children at school - all had to wear the traditional national dress, the Kho for men, the Khira for women. The Nepali language was barred from teaching in primary schools.

Bhutanese of Nepali ethnic background responded with political action. Their aim was to end the Bhutanese citizenship laws, to turn the demographic balance in their favour and eventually to dominate the political life of the country. This agitation was supported from abroad, including the later Prime Minister of Nepal. From 1988 on, underground subversive activities and terrorist acts gave another new dimension to the problem.

When violence failed to cow the Government, the dissidents resorted to enticing all ethnic Nepali, whether bona fide Bhutanese citizens or illegal immigrants, to leave Bhutan. These people were promised safe haven in the UNHCR refugee camps in Nepal and a victorious return to Bhutan. Those who refused to join the exodus were threatened or persecuted. The openly declared aim of the dissidents was to create a Nepali dominated Bhutan or even a ‘Greater Nepal’ or a ‘Ghurkha State’ comprising Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan.

Seeing the negative effects, both domestically and internationally, Bhutan immediately endeavoured to settle this problem directly with Nepal. In 1991, a bilateral commission at ministerial level was set up to find a solution. Up till now, after 15 meetings, in spite of substantial progress on minor details, no comprehensive and lasting solution has been yet found. Since the beginning of this crisis Bhutan has followed a policy of transparency: representatives of Amnesty International, the ICRC and the UN Human Rights Commission were given unlimited access to investigate the situation in situ.

Bhutan has good reason to doubt that all refugees living in the camps are legal Nepali-Bhutanese with a right to return to Bhutan. How would it be otherwise explained that Nepal continues to refuse a thorough investigation of the refugees in the camps in order to establish their background? Bhutan continues to pledge that it will take back any refugees found to have fulfilled the pre-requisites of the Bhutanese Citizenship Acts before leaving Bhutan. The two sides had agreed in 2003 that the repatriation process for the first group of those eligible and wishing to return to Bhutan would start on February 16th, 2004. But in late December 2003, the Bhutanese field team verifying refugees in Khudunabari, the first Nepalese camp to be cleared, was attacked by refugees, resulting in many serious injuries. The Nepalese authorities obviously had not taken any proper security measures. Thus, the Bhutanese team was forced to leave Nepal. So those who wish to prevent a solution to this long and complex problem have again prevailed.

Indian insurgent rebels

Another problem in Bhutanese external relations was, up to December 2003, the existence of between 18 and 20 camps of three different groups of altogether approximately 3,000 Assamese rebels in the southern Bhutanese jungles. Two Bodo factions were fighting for a Bodo homeland, the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) for an independent Assam. They used these hideouts in Bhutan to launch their attacks against their targets in Assam. The Indian Army was pursuing them on India territory, but was unable to prevent them from escaping into the Bhutanese jungles. The Bhutanese Government made every effort to find a peaceful solution through negotiations with the rebels, but to no avail. In 2003 the pressure from New Delhi to either oust the rebels themselves or to agree that the Indian army enter Bhutan for that purpose eventually forced Bhutan to act. Under the personal command of H.M. King Jigme Singye, the Bhutanese army, with about 5,000 men, attacked the rebels in December 2003 and, with casualties on both sides, destroyed all their jungle camps and drove them out of Bhutanese territory. Was this the end of the matter or will the Indian rebels sneak back into the Bhutanese forests after some time, re-establish their camps and take revenge? One can only wish Bhutan every success in its efforts to guard its cultural identity, to meet its social challenges and to maintain its political independence. The impressive dedication of the present King and his ministers to improve the living conditions of the nation and to educate the Bhutanese youth, and the outstanding skills of Bhutanese diplomacy over the last 100 years bode well for the future.

NOTES

1. See book review of Alastair Lamb. Bhutan and Tibet: The Travels of George Bogle and Alexander Hamilton 1774-1777 in Asian Affairs, Vol. XXXV, No. I, March 2004, p. 68).

2. See book review of Allen, Charles. Dual in the Snows: The True Story of the Younghusband Mission to Lhasa in Asian Affairs, Vol. XXXV, No. II, July 2004, p. 229).

3. See Bell, Sir Charles. Portrait of a Dalai Lama. Collins, London, 1946. See also Rank, Michael. ‘Frank Ludlow and the English School in Tibet, 1923-1926’, Asian Affairs, XXXIV (I), p. 68; Shipman, John. ‘From Undeserved Oblivion: A Young American in Tibet – William Montgomery McGovern’. Asian Affairs, XXXV (II), pp. 163-171.

4. Bhutan joined the following organisations: 1962: in the Colombo Plan, 1969: the Universal Postal Union, 1971: the United Nations Organization and the ‘Group of 77’, 1973: the Non-Aligned Movement, 1981: IMF and World Bank, 1982: the Asian Developing Bank, 1985: SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).

5. SAARC: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Europe: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. Asia: Japan, Singapore, South Korea. Hon. Consulates: in Macao, Hong Kong. Bhutanese diplomatic missions only in: New Delhi, Dhaka, Bangkok, Kuwait, UNO New York and Geneva.