|
May
16, 1991
His
Majesty the King,
Tashichhodzong,
Thimphu,
Bhutan.
Your
Majesty,
Most
humbly I beg to submit the following:
I
am grateful for the recent promotion to the rank of Director
General granted to me by your Majesty. In view of the current
situation prevailing in the Kingdom I am certain the decision
to honour me through a promotion was made after due deliberations
by the Royal Government. I have, likewise, given this matter
the most serious consideration before coming to my decision.
Your
Majesty, as a nationalist concerned with the fate and destiny
of my country, like most, I watched the unfolding development
with trepidation. The ordeal worsened with each passing day
as the Royal Government hardened its attitude not just against
the militants outside but even against innocent subjects within.
Your Majesty, by inference from the actions taken to date
and the views of the official media, it is amply clear that
the Government has never seen this issue as being on between
dissidents and the Government, but one origin. This has been
the most painful truth that the Southern Bhutanese people
have now learnt. The Southern Bhutanese of Nepalese origin
are Your Majesty’s subjects as much as Bhutanese from other
parts of the Kingdom. Your Majesty inherited this ethnic group
along with the Kingdom. From the time of the first King, Your
Majesty’s great-grandfather, the two main ethnic groups have
survived and lived in harmony. In the numerous attempts that
have been made to topple the Wangchuck dynasty the Southern
Bhutanese are unwanted subjects is gravely unjust. Having
worked sincerely and diligently towards building a better
Bhutan, I personally feel cheated by the way the Government
has done everything in its powers to destroy the peace and
harmony that existed till the recent past.
Your
Majesty, with the hope that justice will one day prevail,
I was able to control my dismay and emotions when suspicion
and mistrust fell upon anyone from Southern Bhutan. I withstood
the outright racist attacks unleashed on the Southern Bhutanese
by the Government through the Kuensel. I retained my sanity
and hoped for an eventual return of rationality even as systematic
harassment of the people in the Southern districts continued.
I have sympathized with the people in my own home district
of Chirang, and continue to share their suffering as the Government
methodically deprives them of the bare necessities of survival.
But when tiny children are subjected to the wrath of the Government,
I believe the time has definitely come to distance oneself
from the Administration.
The
sea change from peace to chaos has only required two years.
It requires no hindsight to realize that the spark which ignited
the fire certainly did not come from the people but from the
Royal Government itself. Is it simply a righteous policy gone
awry or a purposeful policy conceived to intentionally create
this current crisis so that the domination of one ethnic group
over the others is assured for the future? Regardless of the
intentions behind the spark, the Southern Bhutanese as a whole
are being made to suffer, but the painful consequences cannot
be avoided by the other half of the population. The future
of our country itself, therefore, hangs in a precarious balance,
a situation wherein Your Majesty alone, if Your Majesty so
desires, can tilt the scales towards peace and stability.
Your
Majesty is, I am certain, aware of the various policies currently
in force primarily to harass and punish all Southern Bhutanese.
There are many languishing in jails while many have been made
to leave the country. The “green belt”, an issue which has
absolutely no environmental basis in our context, has been
revived to evict people from fertile lands. On the pretext
of restricting flow of funds to dissidents, the Government
has withheld from the farmers money accrued through export
of cash crops. In the guise of militants, the security forces
continue to rape and plunder families in Southern Bhutan.
The
district of Chirang has come in for particularly harsh treatment
since it is far removed from international borders, and therefore,
impartial witnesses or the media. There is a total ban on
movement of essentials such as common salt. Most trading licenses
have been cancelled while common people are denied the right
to carry such essentials from outside the district.
All
the above are perhaps understandable from a Government machinery
bent upon fulfilling its ill-conceived objectives. However,
when the excesses have now reached a situation where children
are also being penalized, my conscience will not permit me
to hold myself back. I cannot bear the accusations of a six
year old child denied the right to education, a penalty the
child is being made to pay for the convections, right or
wrong, of older relatives. I firmly believe that the Government
is morally wrong in taking these harsh and unjust steps against
innocent little children. I cannot have this on my conscience,
even indirectly, by being a part of the Royal Government,
and therefore, have decided to resign.
In
view of the current fear psychosis that now pervades among
all Southern Bhutanese I have chosen to make my decision known
from outside the country. I have always been apolitical, and
wish to remain so, but I cannot dare hope that the administrative
machinery of the Government would leave me to roam freely
within Bhutan. I, therefore, beg Your Majesty’s kind understanding
and forgiveness in the matter.
Your
Majesty, if I am judged to have been disloyal and unpatriotic
by my decision to resign, I will have cause to believe that
I have been sorely misjudged. I firmly believe that in the
national context loyalty is but one among many other ingredients
that go towards the making of a patriotic citizen. Dedication
and true commitment to the well-being of a nation as a unified
entity are, in my humble opinion, other factors that define
nationalism. I have reached the conclusion that what is currently
taking place, and the policies that have brought us to this
crisis, has its roots in the desire of the Government to instill
the supremacy of one section of society over others, and,
therefore, does not have the greatest of the greater interest
of the nation at heart.
I
am hopeful that a solution will soon be found to restore peace
within the Kingdom. Bhutan cannot afford continuous strife
that steadily depletes limited resources and brings much needed
development to a complete halt. I pray that Your Majesty will
take suitable measures to steer us back to the path of harmony,
stability and prosperity.
I
beg to remain,
Your
Majesty’s most humble and obedient servant,
(
BHIM SUBBA)
DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT OF POWER
Continued
: Please click on
Back to
Forced
Eviction
for continuity of the events
leading to exodus of Lhotshampas
|
