Bhutanese refugees press for relocation of the rest of refugees

KATHMANDU, August 1: The Bhutanese Refugee Camp Management Committee, Jhapa has advanced a five – point demand to the government seeking to internationalize the refugee problem.

At a press conference at the Reporters’ Club Nepal on Monday, CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker, Aman Lal Modi, stressed that the Bhutanese people must also be able to live a life of dignity as humans and spoke of the pain of having to live as refugees by leaving their homeland behind.

On the occasion, UML’s lawmaker, Mahendra Limbu, spoke of the ‘dearth of humanity’ in the camp and underlined the dire conditions in which the refugees are forced to live.

Camp’s advisor, Rajman Gurung, made a vehement appeal to the Nepal Government to seek a lasting solution to the problems of the Bhutanese refugees who have been living in eastern Nepal for the past 25 years.

Camp’s Spokesperson, Suk Bahadur Rai, noted that 100,000 refugees have been relocated to the US, Canada, Australia, Norway, the UK, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark under the third country rehabilitation scheme and called for immediate management of the rest of the refugees.

Delegation’s Coordinator and Pathari Camp’s Secretary, Chepang Singh Rai, expressed concern at the declining amount of relief packages provided to the refugees. RSS