KATHMANDU, DEC 24 - Bhutanese officials in the Joint Verification Team (JVT) left for Bhutan early morning today without even informing the Nepali side, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) revealed here today.
"We have received information that the Bhutanese officials left for their country today morning without informing their Nepali counterparts," Dr Madan Kumar Bhattarai, spokesperson at MoFA said in response to a question.
On Monday, two Druk officials in the JVT, a policeman and some refugees were injured in the Khudunabari camp after the irate refugees pelted stones, protesting "objectionable" conditions announced by head of the Bhutanese team, Dr Sonam Tenzin. These conditions – speaking Dzongkha (language spoken by majority Ngalung community), and knowing Bhutanese history, culture and traditions – were required to be met by the refugees in Category 2 (Bhutanese who willingly emigrated). Of the 12,183 refugees in the Khudunabari camp, more than 70 per cent have been categorised as willing emigrants by the JVT.
Dr Bhattarai declined to comment on the possible impact of yesterday’s scuffle between the JVT officials and the refugees of the Khudunabari camp. He also said he had no knowledge of any protest by the Bhutan government over the incident in the camp yesterday.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Youth Organisation of Bhutan and received here today said that the refugees of the Khudunabari camp waiting for fair and just repatriation have lost faith and hope over returning back to Bhutan. This was because, the statement said, the Bhutanese officials left abruptly.
The organisation accused the Bhutan government of working to block the repatriation of the refugees and aiming to make them stateless.Posted on: 2003-12-25 05:20

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