VOICES OF VICTIMS – A SPECIMEN OF REPRESSION BY THE RACIST REGIME IN BHUTAN
My name is Jas Maya Gurung. I am 66 years old living in Des Moines, Iowa. Like all others in my five-member family, I was born in Bhutan and lived in Taklai village of Gaylegphug sub division in southern Bhutan. We earned our living as farmers and besides our plantation of food crops like maize, millet and paddy, we had 4 acres of agricultural land, two of which were irrigated and we also had 100 fruit bearing orange trees.
Until 1970, the situation in the country was conducive to the well-being of everybody. There was no dress code and restrictions on the Nepali language. The government distributed land to the landless and gave loans to the farmers to help improve their yield. From 1975 onwards, there were talks about wearing the so called national dress ‘Bakhu’ and already the village headman [Mondal] and Assistant Headman [Karbari] were required to wear the dress. Since 1985, the government made it mandatory on all southern Bhutanese including villagers to wear ‘Bakhu’ .Bakhu is a Tibetan style dress of the northern Bhutanese unsuitable for hot climate in the south.
In 1990, there was a huge movement in southern Bhutan called by dissidents where hundreds of people participated. I was unaware of the real motive of this procession or what politics is all about but I participated because of fear. I came back home in the evening. Today I realize that it was an attempt to ask for human rights and democracy.
In June 1991, the school in Lalai was closed down and the census officials used it as their office. They called the villagers and demanded CO [Certificate of Origin]. It is a document tracing your origin in Bhutan dating back to 1958. Most farmers would not keep such an old document and hence were regarded as non-Bhutanese or illegal immigrants. We went to the census office three times but each time they asked for a CO which we could not produce. In the meantime, some of our fellow villagers had their citizenship cards confiscated. The village was surrounded by Royal Bhutan Army and Police and for the fear of arrest, rape, torture and imprisonment, many of our villagers left the country. I remember that Gopal Baidar of our village was imprisoned for 18 months. Another terrifying situation in our village was the shooting down of one Biswakarma after which hundreds of people left the country. Because of fear, we too packed our bags and left our ancestral homes in Bhutan in December 1991. We took refuge in Beldangi 1 Refugee Camp, Sector D2/150 in eastern Nepal before coming to the United States.
Until 1970, the situation in the country was conducive to the well-being of everybody. There was no dress code and restrictions on the Nepali language. The government distributed land to the landless and gave loans to the farmers to help improve their yield. From 1975 onwards, there were talks about wearing the so called national dress ‘Bakhu’ and already the village headman [Mondal] and Assistant Headman [Karbari] were required to wear the dress. Since 1985, the government made it mandatory on all southern Bhutanese including villagers to wear ‘Bakhu’ .Bakhu is a Tibetan style dress of the northern Bhutanese unsuitable for hot climate in the south.
In 1990, there was a huge movement in southern Bhutan called by dissidents where hundreds of people participated. I was unaware of the real motive of this procession or what politics is all about but I participated because of fear. I came back home in the evening. Today I realize that it was an attempt to ask for human rights and democracy.
In June 1991, the school in Lalai was closed down and the census officials used it as their office. They called the villagers and demanded CO [Certificate of Origin]. It is a document tracing your origin in Bhutan dating back to 1958. Most farmers would not keep such an old document and hence were regarded as non-Bhutanese or illegal immigrants. We went to the census office three times but each time they asked for a CO which we could not produce. In the meantime, some of our fellow villagers had their citizenship cards confiscated. The village was surrounded by Royal Bhutan Army and Police and for the fear of arrest, rape, torture and imprisonment, many of our villagers left the country. I remember that Gopal Baidar of our village was imprisoned for 18 months. Another terrifying situation in our village was the shooting down of one Biswakarma after which hundreds of people left the country. Because of fear, we too packed our bags and left our ancestral homes in Bhutan in December 1991. We took refuge in Beldangi 1 Refugee Camp, Sector D2/150 in eastern Nepal before coming to the United States.
