There was a time, until the mid-1980s, when Bhutan was thought by many to be an exemplar of a multi-ethnic nation at peace with itself. The country´s three communities – the ruling Ngalong of the northwest, the large but ´backward´ Sarchop of the east, and the (lately named) Lhotshampa Nepali-speakers of the south – seemed to be making a go at an amicable existence under the benign rule of a Ngalong king.
That perceived idyll was shattered by King Jigme Singye Wangchuk´s precipitate action of depopulating the southern hills of a good portion of his Lhotshampa subjects at the turn of the decade. Shangri La was first sullied then, and now, the international watchdog agency Amnesty International has blown the cover over another developing dark secret, the Thimphu establishment´s treatment of Sarchop dissidents.
The acumen of a coterie of sophisticated English-speaking bureaucrats coupled with indulgence on the part of the Indian government and a select group of international donors has kept Bhutan from feeling the pressure of international censure.The fact remains, however, that on a worldwide scale Bhutan holds the dark record of being the country that has evicted the largest proportion of its citizens (about a seventh), throwing them into the limbo of statelessness over these past eight years.
And last October came news from the east of Bhutan of sit-ins, demonstrations and ´posterings´. Taking its time to confirm the reports, on 21 January, Amnesty released a report from London titled "Crack-down on ´anti-nationals´ in the east". It confirmed that Thimphu had reacted to the protest in the east by arresting a large number of people, mostly Sarchops: "Bhutanese authorities have in recent months arbitrarily arrested, tortured and ill-treated scores of pro-democracy activists in the east of the country. Those arrested include dozens of Buddhist monks, religious teachers and young children."