Kathmandu, Aug 07: Bhutan has postponed talks due next week on the fate of 1,00,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, officials said today, amid international criticism of a move to allow only a fraction of them to return. The Bhutanese government sent a letter delaying the august 11-14 talks in its capital Thimphu, saying its "ministers are busy with the ongoing national assembly session," said Madan Kumar Bhattarai, spokesman for Nepal's Foreign Ministry. "They said in the letter to the Foreign Ministry that they will inform us of a new date when they are in a position to host the talks," Bhattarai told a news agency. The Thimphu talks were due to be the 15th round of negotiations between the countries on the status of the refugees, who fled to Nepal in the early 1990s after Bhutan imposed cultural reforms encouraging the use of its national language and dress. The refugees are mostly of Nepalese descent. Bhutan, a Buddhist kingdom, denies allegations they were pushed out as part of an "anti-Hindu" drive and says most left voluntarily.

A study conducted jointly by Nepal and Bhutan and released in June found that at seven refugee camps only slightly more than two per cent of the 12,183 residents were "forcibly evicted" and hence entitled to return.


Reports on another six camps in southeastern Nepal are yet to be completed.

Bureau Report