IPS news reports appear daily in English, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. Nepal it appears has decided to press only for the repatriation of some 93,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin who fled their country after Thimpu began enforcing a policy of forced cultural assimilation in the late 1980s. Bhutanese refugee leaders and human rights groups here are appalled by Nepal's climb down from an earlier position that included demands for respect for human rights and the introduction of multi-party democracy in Bhutan. The turnaround was indicated by Nepal's Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi, who returned home Thursday after leading a six-member ministerial delegation to Thimpu. Asked about Nepal's policy on rights and democracy in Bhutan, Joshi said, ''when we talk about refugees' repatriation, it naturally boils down to their rights.
All refugees here are political dissidents.
We will not go back to Bhutan without commitments by Bhutan's royal regime to respect human and political rights and grant democratic freedom,'' he added. The shift makes it clear to us that we have to bring democracy in Bhutan ourselves. Human rights groups that monitor the South Asian region were equally dismayed by the sudden shift in Nepal's policy. Nepali officials however explained that much as they would have liked to press for rights and democracy issues with Bhutan, after several rounds of negotiations it had become clear that Bhutan was not about to budge until Nepal backtracked. Until India, the South Asian giant which borders both Bhutan and Nepal, starts to put pressure on Bhutan on those issues, Bhutan would never agree, they said.