It has emerged that the Bhutan government sent 12 Bhutanese refugees deported by the United States to Nepal on March 28 after confiscating all their documents.
United States officials handed over the 12 refugees to Bhutanese authorities after landing at Paro International Airport in Bhutan on the morning of March 28. They returned after handing over the refugees to Bhutanese officials surrounded by heavy security. At the time, they also handed over the refugees' documents to the Bhutanese administration.
As soon as the American officials left, the Bhutanese government confiscated all the documents the refugees were carrying, four refugees who were arrested in Nepal said.
"We had a lot of documents with us when we arrived in Bhutan from the US via Delhi," said Balaram Paudyal, chairman of the Bhutan People's Party, told Setopati, quoting the four refugees currently in the custody of Jhapa police. "The Bhutanese officials took all those documents and sent us to Nepal empty-handed."
"Now Nepal’s police and immigration officials are asking us what documents we have. How can we submit documents that we don’t even possess?" they said.
Among the 12 refugees sent to Nepal by Bhutan after confiscating their documents, four are currently in custody at the Kakarbhitta Area Police Office. The whereabouts of the remaining eight remain unknown.
Paudyal had a lengthy conversation with the four in custody a few days ago. During the conversation, the four young men told him that the Bhutanese authorities seized all the documents they had with them as soon as the American officials left Bhutan, Paudyal said.
"I met them in custody and talked to them," Paudyal said. "That’s when I found out. They were apparently stripped of their documents, provided snacks, given some money for expenses, and sent to Nepal."
After the US deported the Bhutanese refugees, they were brought to Bhutan via Delhi on March 28. Of those sent toward Nepal, four are in custody on the charge of illegally entering Nepal. Ashish Subedi, Roshan Tamang, and Santosh Darji have been in police custody for 13 days, while Thursday marked 10 days since Ashok Gurung was arrested.
Paudyal said that after receiving the refugees from the US officials, the Bhutanese authorities both persuaded and threatened all 12 refugees.
"As soon as they reached a hotel from the airport, Bhutanese officials apparently told them, ‘Give us all the documents you have; these papers could cause you trouble here,’ and the boys handed over all the documents they had," Paudyal said. "After getting hold of the documents, they [Bhutanese officials] started threatening them in a soft tone."
"Surrounded by security personnel, the Bhutanese officials began the conversation by saying, ‘Your language isn’t even spoken here; you don’t know Dzongkha,’" Paudyal recounted. "Then they said, ‘If you stay here, you might end up in jail. Your relatives also are in Nepal, so we’ll send you to Nepal,’ and sent them off."
During that time, the Bhutanese officials gave each refugee 30,000 Indian rupees.
They were put on an Indian vehicle from Bhutan’s border town of Phuntsholing near India and dropped off at the Indian border crossing of Panitanki near the Nepal-India border. Afterward, four of the refugees paid a broker 22,000 rupees to cross into Nepal from under the Mechi Bridge. Three of them reached the Beldangi refugee camp on the evening of March 28, and were arrested from the camp the next day. The fourth was arrested from the Kakarbhitta border on April 1.
The Department of Immigration (DoI) said that it is investigating the refugees who have been in police custody for 13 days.
"We have appointed Tulsi Bhattarai, chief of the Kakarbhitta Immigration Office, as the investigation officer," said Ishwari Datta Paneru, director and information officer at the DoI. "We are gathering information about the refugees there through him."
According to him, the DoI is trying to ascertain what documents the refugees arrested in two phases possess.
Meanwhile, the Immigration Office has not taken any decision on matter yet as it has been looking for documents that the refugees don’t even have. Tulsi Bhattarai, chief of the Kakarbhitta Immigration Office appointed as the investigation officer, says that "the preparations for submitting the investigation report have reached the final stage."
The Bhutanese refugees, who were verified by the United Nations from camps in Nepal and resettled in the US, are now in a dire situation after being expelled by the US. Bhutanese refugees argue that Nepal should make a swift decision regarding them in this situation.
"The US acknowledged that they are Bhutanese, and Bhutan itself accepted them by bringing them from Delhi to Paro on its own plane and taking custody from the Americans," said Paudyal, president of the Bhutan People's Party. "But Bhutan stripped them of all their documents and sent them to Nepal. Nepal is a democratic country. We request that these Bhutanese, who have come here after being unjustly expelled, not be subjected to further injustice by being kept in custody continuously."
He says that Nepal should hand over all the refugees who have recently been expelled by both the US and Bhutan to the United Nations.
"This isn’t the first time refugees have come to Nepal like this. Rohingyas have also come before. Just as they have been accommodated, the Bhutanese should be accommodated the same way. We request that they be released from detention," Paudyal said, proposing measures Nepal could take to avoid prolonging their detention.
He added, "They should be handed over either to their guardians, or to the UN. If that’s not possible, they could even be kept under house arrest in a separate location. But they need to be released from custody. We are confident that a democratic country like Nepal will not do further injustice to those who have come here after facing injustice from both the US and Bhutan."
Although he suggested handing the arrested refugees over to their guardians, apart from Ashish Subedi, who has his father Kumar, none of them have relatives in the camp. Currently, Kumar Subedi alone has been arranging everything including food and bedding for all the refugees.
Kumar, who has been living alone in the Beldangi camp for the past 10 years after his family members were resettled in the US through the third-country resettlement program, is the sole guardian of his son and his three friends in custody.
The administration of President Donald Trump, which has adopted a strict policy on immigrants in recent times, deported the 12 Bhutanese refugees, citing their alleged involvement in criminal activities. During this process, many immigrants, including Nepalis and Bhutanese, have been expelled from the US.
