Bhutan News archive for 01 November 2007

Rizal appeals US to talk with Nepal, Bhutan and India to end refugees’ plight (Nepalnews. com)
Bhutanese refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal, on Wednesday, said that if the United States is, indeed, serious regarding ensuring [Bhutanese] refugees their rights then it should be able to talk with Nepal, Bhutan and India together at the same time.

DPT’s Punakha tour ends on a high (Kuensel)
31 October, 2007 – After a lukewarm response through most of Punakha dzongkhag, the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa ended its familiarization tour of the district on a positive note with about 500 people attending its last meeting in Toebesa on October 29.

Sauerbrey visits Jhapa to assess preparation for resettlement of Bhutanese refugees (Nepalnews. com)
The US Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration, Ellen Sauerbrey, who is currently on her 12-day visit to Nepal, Bhutan and India, visited Jhapa district on Thursday.

Bhutanese refugees must go back for polls: Nepali PM (IANS via Yahoo! India News)
Kathmandu, Oct 28 (Xinhua) Nepal’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala Sunday said Bhutanese refugees living in the country must return to their homes before the 2008 general elections in Bhutan.

NEPAL: Bhutanese refugee children want new lives (AlertNet)
Source: IRIN Basudev Osti, a 17-year-old Bhutanese citizen, grew up in the refugee camp of Khudanabari in Jhapa district, about 500km east of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. “My dream is to be liberated from my state as a refugee…” Osti said.

Bhutan blanked in opening game (Kuensel)
31 October, 2007 – Bhutan lost 0-4 to Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the AFC U-16 championships qualifiers played at the Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd stadium in Dammam on October 27.

UN Provides Rehabilitation Info For Bhutanese Refugees (Bernama)
KATHMANDU, Oct 30 (Bernama) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun providing information to the Bhutanese Refugees on matters relating to rehabilitation in the third countries, China’s Xinhua said quoting a report in a local newspaper, “The Rising Nepal”, Tuesday.

Refugees should be repatriated before Bhutanese general election: PM Koirala (Nepalnews. com)
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said that Bhutanese refugees who wish to go back to their country should be repatriated before 2008 so that they would be able to participate in the general election scheduled to take place in Bhutan that year.

Bhutan declares war on littering (BBC News)
Bhutan passes new laws imposing heavy fines on people found guilty of littering.

Gross National Happiness is enlightening (Kuensel)
31 October, 2007 – The path that Bhutan had chosen for development and change, inspired by Gross National Happiness, was not just a unique philosophy but had scientific basis and, in that sense, was enlightening, according to His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, Willem Alexander of the Netherlands.

Forest fire brought under control

1 November, 2007 – Firefighters, army and police personnel took about four hours to extinguish a forest fire, the first this season, which broke out at about 12:00 noon above a worker’s temporary camp in Lungtenzampa, Thimphu, yesterday.

Truck driver granted bail
Update 1 November, 2007 – The truck driver who was apprehended by Indian police in Tamalpur, about 27 kilometres from Samdrup Jongkhar, on October 26, following an accident in which his truck ran over a local businessman, who died on the spot, was bailed out on October 27.

Getaway car tracked down
Update 1 November, 2007 – Thimphu police have found the car used by three armed men to rob the Druk Petroleum fuel station on October 7.

PDP workshop on public services
1 November, 2007 – Seventy men and women from 11 dzongkhags met with People’s Democratic Party members in Thimphu on October 29 to review the current practice of public service delivery.

Dorji Namgyal Rinchhen does it twice!
1 November, 2007 – Dorji Namgyal Rinchhen won the 2007 Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck Druk Air Golf Tournament, that was played at the Royal Thimphu Golf Course from October 26-28.

“A pilgrimage to the village”
1 November, 2007 – The familiarisation tours of constituencies by party candidates were more than seeing and being seen, said Phuensum Tshogpa’s candidate of Dorokha-Tading constituency Thakur Singh Powdyel, who recently completed his familiarization tour.

Bhutanese wins Hoso Bunka Foundation prize

1 November, 2007 – Kesang Chuki Dorjee of KCD Productions has won the NHK Japan Prize, for the best proposal of a TV programme with an educational value, called “A Young Democracy.”

Cross border hydropower exchange program

The delegates in Thimphu

1 November, 2007 – Executives from the power and energy ministries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in the country on an exchange programme to learn about the Bhutan-India cross border hydropower exchange.

Still in The Dark
31 October, 2007 – Before day-break, Sonam
gets ready for his hour and a half walk to school. To the light of a candle in the corner of his room, he prepares breakfast cum lunch, sufficient for himself, his parents and two brothers. With torch in hand and books inside a plastic bag, he passes through thick woods chanting his usual prayers. This has become his daily routine.

Like Ships In The Night
31 October, 2007 – The cool, pleasant winter
breeze caressed me and
blew kisses all around. In contrast, I was buffetted by the grating sounds of traffic. I was impatient, really impatient … I was on a pilgrimage. Finally, at dusk, the engine started and wheels turned.