FROM Jesuit Refugee Service DATE 13 February 1996 REGARDING Bhutanese demonstrations-update 13 February 1996 Please distribute this report Confirmed reports indicate that 273 Bhutanese refugee 'Peace Marchers' have marched over the border bridge dividing India and Nepal, after several weeks of camping along the border, in stalemate with Indian security forces. The passage, which occured yesterday, February 14, is being attributed partly to the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba to India. The marchers reportedly were guided to a police post just across the border, where they were registered and put into 6 buses and one lorry and driven off in the direction of Siliguri. 150 additional peace marchers are being detained in jails in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri. The Rising Nepal of 14/2/96 reported: "In response to a question pertaining to the 'problem' created by the Bhutanese refugees transiting through West Bengal, returning as they are to their homeland, The Prime Minister said that Bhutan and Nepal had 'agreed to resolve it bilaterally'. He added , 'They are all Bhutanese citizens who were forced to leave their country and Nepal received them on humanitarian ground. Nepal is not the country of their immediate asylum. How they came to Nepal is well known. We want them to be provided with the necessary conditions to return home safely and honourably.'" The Kathmandu Post of the same day reported that the PM at the same press conference in the Indian capital explained, "Bhutanese citizens were forced to leave their country, and we cannot stop them from going back". TKP of the same day also reports that the Nepali Human Rights Organisation, CVICT, which is one of the UNHCR implementing partners working in the camps with the victims of torture and violence among the Bhutanese refugees, was refused access to the 150 Bhutanese Peace Marchers already being held in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri jails, even though they had forewarned the authorities of their intentions. It is reported that the Superintendent of the Siliguri jail denied access on the grounds that the Bhutanese were political prisoners. Denial on these grounds would be significant if it is representative of official Indian policy. It would appear that India has now engaged at a political level, clearly and openly siding with the Bhutan Government position. These prisoners have been in detention since their arrest on 17th January at Panitanki on the Indo-Nepal border. CVICT was able to interview a prisoner who had been taken to hospital. He certified that the prisoners were not being subjected to physical torture, but that other prisoners were causing them pychological tortur (unspecified). It was claimed that the meals were insufficient and unhygienic, and that inmates were not receiving adequate medical treatment (among the detainees are two pregnant women). It also seems that the women were kept for three days with mentally disturbed criminals. OMCT, a Geneva-based Human Rights organisation, and CVICT issued a joint appeal to the Indian government to grant CVICT immediate and unrestricted access to the prisoners, and they demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained, with measures tto guarantee their physical and mental health. Meanwhile there is more in the papers on the widening gulf between BCDM (Bhutanese Committee for Democratic Movement) & AMCC (Appeal Movement Coordinating Council), two competing Bhutanese refugee organizations the latter being the present march organizers. 150 AMCC Peace Marchers were arrested on 17th January on the Indo-Nepal border immediately after crossing into India under section 144 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) forbidding meetings of more than 4 persons. IPC 144, and prohibits public demonstrations. 300 Peace Marchers had been living on the bridge which marks the border between Nepal and India since they were refused unconditional entry into India on 23rd January. These marchers entered India on 14 February. Frustrated after 6 years of fruitless international negotiations, the refugee peace marchers decided to take the matter into their own hands, and vowed to not return to Nepal. The refugees, totalling about 1/6 of the 600,000 people populating Bhutan, were forced to leave the country in the early 1990's after a "One Nation/ One People" policy effectively rendered them stateless. The international community has been thus far ineffective in resolving their plight. Bhutan has the largest percentage of its people living as refugees in the world. Relevant addresses for expressing support for the marchers: Mr P V Narasimha Rao Prime Minister Office of the Prime Minister South Block, New Delhi 110 011 Republic of India Phone: + 91 11 301 2312 Fax: + 91 11 301 6781 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Mr Jyoti Basu Chief Minister of West Bengal Chief Minister's Office Writer's Building Calcutta-700 001 West Bengal India Tel +91 11 225 7777 Fax + 91 11 225 5480 President Shankar Dayal Sharma Office of the President Rashtrapati Bhavan New Delhi, 110 004 India fax +91 11 301 7290 Mr. K. Padmanabhaiah Home Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs North Block, New Delhi 110001 India Fax +91 11 301 5750 General KV Krishna Rao Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Office of the Governor Raj Bhavan, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India Mr Pranab Mukherjee Minister of External Affairs Ministry of External Affairs South block, New Delhi, 10001 India