Kathmandu, June 19: Out of more than a lakh people, claiming to be Bhutanese refugees, residing in UN-run camps in Nepal, only a handful have been allowed to return to Bhutan. The Nepal Bhutan Joint Verification Team (JVT) yesterday recognised only 2.4 per cent of the 12,183 refugees currently residing in Khuduna Bari camp of Nepal as genuine Bhutanese refugees, according to foreign ministry officials here. Under the four categories, 293 refugees of 74 families are classified as those who were forcefully made to leave Bhutan by the Bhutan government in 1990. They are regarded as genuine Bhutanese refugees, who are entitled to get the citizenship of Bhutan without any difficulty.
Similarly, 8,595 refugees from 2182 families were caterogized as those who migrated Bhutan on voluntary basis while 347 refugees from 85 families were regarded as Bhutanese with criminal records.
The remaining 2,948 refugees from 817 families are regarded as non-Bhutanese. There are more than one lakh Bhutanese refugees, who are living in seven camps of east Nepal for the past 12 years.

Most of them are believed to have fled Bhutan in the late 1980s, when Bhutan's government, dominated by the majority Drukpa Ethnic Group, cracked down on the minority Lothsampa Group, accusing them of being illegal immigrants.
Bhutan has refused to take them back, saying many are not Bhutanese citizens but had illegally immigrated to Bhutan from Nepal.
New York-based Human Rights watch has condemned the announcement as a "wholesale violation of their (refugees') rights."
Bureau Report