Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acronyms and Abbreviations
- Foreword by Ranabir Samaddar
- Preface
- ETHICAL ISSUES
- LAWS
- SOUTH ASIA
- INDIA
- GENDER
- INTERVIEW/CORRESPONDENCE
- Introduction
- Voices from Exile – 1
- Voices from Exile – 2
- Daughter of Isis
- Right of Return
- Letters from a Palestinian Refugee Camp
- REPRESENTATIONS
- Index
Voices from Exile – 2
from INTERVIEW/CORRESPONDENCE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acronyms and Abbreviations
- Foreword by Ranabir Samaddar
- Preface
- ETHICAL ISSUES
- LAWS
- SOUTH ASIA
- INDIA
- GENDER
- INTERVIEW/CORRESPONDENCE
- Introduction
- Voices from Exile – 1
- Voices from Exile – 2
- Daughter of Isis
- Right of Return
- Letters from a Palestinian Refugee Camp
- REPRESENTATIONS
- Index
Summary
As the Secretary General of the Appeal Movement Coordination Council, Ratan Gazmere has been at the forefront of the Bhutanese refugee movement. Under his leadership, scores of Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin, who say they have been uprooted from their hearth and homes by the Royal administration have tried to march back to Bhutan through Indian territory in the last three years – without much success. By his own admission, Gazmere is now taking a back seat, trying to review the movement, even as its present leadership tries to coordinate the fight for democracy in the Himalayan kingdom. Gazmere spoke to Subir Bhaumik of Refugee Watch recently in Calcutta.
RW: What is now the main priority of your movement – sending back the refugees first or stepping up the movement for democracy in Bhutan?
Gazmere: Clearly the priority for us now is to send back the refugees rather than wait for changes to take place in Bhutan. This is an issue, which divides the ‘pro-repatriation forces’ and the ‘pro-democracy forces’ in our movement today. There are those amongst us who argue that unless the problem that led to the creation of the refugee crisis is taken care of, it is no use sending back the refugees. But, I would like to see the repatriation of the refugees first rather than wait endlessly for democratic changes to take place – the repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees should not be entangled with the movement for democracy, which may take years to materialize.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Fleeing People of South AsiaSelections from Refugee Watch, pp. 375 - 377Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009