what about Bhutan?
A little about Bhutan:
The kingdom of Bhutan is a nation between China and India. The entire country is mountainous although there is a small strip of land that is subtropical to the south. Bhutan is an exporter of hydroelectricity and has been depending upon cash crops, tourism, and development aid from India to help it grow as a country. The population there is 672,425 (4/2006).
Bhutan is one of the most isolated countries in the world. The Bhutanese government regulates tourism and foreign influences to preserve its traditional Tibetan Buddhist culture. Its official language is Dzongkha.
For the past 16 years Bhutanese refugees have been trapped and are in a state of limbo because of political deadlock between the nations of India, Nepal and Bhutan. 15 rounds of diplomatic talks have failed to solve many issues, and now there is tension between the local inhabitants of the Morang district of Nepal and the estimated 100,000 refugees.
The current crisis is the refugees are living in a siege after violent clashes with local villagers. About 150 people were injured and three killed when the refugee’s right to collect firewood for cooking was disputed. Up until 1/2006 the refugees were provided with kerosene by the United Nations UNHCR, but this was stopped when the kerosene got to be too expensive. The refugees then decided to leave the camp for wood gathering forays into the surrounding Pashupati forest. The Nepali government passed an edict to empower the local villagers to protect the forest.
This is not the first time that there has been resentment by the local villagers. In 8/2006 there were 3 young men who died after they ate fish from a pond that was commonly used for Christian baptism services. This case appeared to be deliberate poisoning. A week later, poisoned candy was distributed among refugee school children. Fortunately this plot was discovered by the children’s teachers before a tragedy could occur.
Robert Singh, a missionary of Autumn Rain Himalaya, has been working with seven Bhutanese Refugee camps for the last 16 years. During this time, nearly 10,000 refugees have come to know Christ. Robert says that the camps are currently starving.
“No one is being allowed in or out of the camps. The villagers have blocked the UNHCR trucks from reaching the camps with supplies. They are surviving on some dried animal flesh, but soon that will all be finished. I tried to reach the camps with food, but my brothers warned me not to try in case I was killed too. Some of the new believers have been driven to bitterness because of this. YET they are continuing to pray. They cannot sleep at night, because they are afraid of further raids by the villagers. It seems like the villagers want them to starve to death. The refugees would leave if only they could. But where could they go? These are the most unwanted people on earth.”
Please pray for the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.
Thanks to ARI for providing this information and making us aware. If you are moved as I am, please visit this site for more information about the refugees from Bhutan.
