Exiles say they are forgotten in Bhutan vote

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Bhutan may be hailing the birth of democracy with its first parliamentary poll on Monday, but the vote has excluded thousands of exiles who fled or were expelled from the Himalayan kingdom after democracy protests in 1990.

Many exiles say the election is a farce, while others say they may never see their homeland again as they head to Western countries in a resettlement program this year.

"These have been a tiring 17 years when we hoped we would be able to go home," said Tila Rupa Acharya, who languished in a refugee camp in southern Nepal before signing up to resettle in the United States.

"It has not happened. I don't want to come back now."

Acharya was one thousands of refugees leaving for the United States under a deal to resettle some 107,000 Bhutanese of ethnic Nepali origin who fled Bhutan or were expelled after demanding democracy and speaking out against discrimination in 1990.

Many exiles say Bhutan's elections would not solve the problem of the tens of thousands of refugees.

"The election is a farce," said Rajman Gurung, who sells spices and oranges in the Timai refugee camp inside Nepal. "As long as they don't include the 130,000 refugees, how can it be a fair election?"

The resettlement program has the exiles divided, with the older generation yearning to return home to Bhutan and the younger ones looking to find their fortune in the West.

In 2006, the United States offered to resettle 60,000 of the total 107,000 refugees. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and the Netherlands have also offered to take some exiles.

Top U.N. refugee official in Nepal, Daisy Dell, told reporters that 25,000 had registered for third country resettlement so far. Some 10,000 were expected to leave by the end of this year.

NEW LIFE ABROAD

Tika Maya Rai was 4 years old when she arrived at a camp in Nepal.

"I have a very faint memory of our house in Bhutan," she said before she boarded a flight to the United States. "But that is history now.

"I am going to the United States where I think I can make my life bright," Rai, now 21, said, adding she would love to return to Bhutan someday.

Nepal and Bhutan have held several rounds of ministerial meetings but failed to resolve one of the world's longest refugee crises that has marred ties between the two South Asian nations.