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1 TRANSLATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND ... - APFA News

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Regarding Category 4, repatriation of these people will be in keeping with the<br />

laws of the two countries. They will have full opportunity to prove their<br />

innocence in the court of law in Bhutan.<br />

Apart from the bilateral meetings between the officials of Bhutan and Nepal,<br />

His Majesty the King has also conveyed Bhutan’s position on the four agreed<br />

categories of people to the successive Prime Ministers of Nepal during their<br />

meetings in the SAARC summits. Following the devolution of executive powers<br />

to the Council of Ministers, the successive heads of government have been<br />

appraising the successive Prime Ministers of Nepal on the Royal Government’s<br />

policies and positions on the four categories of people in the camps.<br />

As reported by the Foreign Minister, joint verification was started in March,<br />

2001 in the Khudunabari camp which was jointly selected as the first camp to<br />

be verified. The Bhutanese joint verification team is led by Dasho (Dr.) Sonam<br />

Tenzin, Director, Home Ministry. It comprises five officials of the Home<br />

Ministry and together with the supporting staff has a total of 15 members. The<br />

joint verification teams of the two countries are required to oversee the filling of<br />

Performas by individual units and families as well as examine their statements<br />

and other documents, and to interview them. Accordingly, they have been<br />

completing verification of 10 to 15 families per day comprising 60 to 80<br />

people. It is a very difficult task for them to conduct thorough and proper<br />

verification. On the other hand, their counterparts, the Nepalese joint<br />

verification team would like to shorten the procedure and complete the<br />

verification in this camp as quickly as possible, and move on to the other<br />

camps. If this remains the case, it is doubtful whether the verification of the<br />

people in this camp would be conducted merely as a formality.<br />

Even so, there are frequent criticisms by Ngolop organizations, non government<br />

organizations and various other parties that the Bhutanese verification team is<br />

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