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

and general amnesty to the Ngolops for all crimes committed by them. It may
be noted that whatever tactics and strategies are adopted by them, the only
agenda and true objective of the Ngolops is to bring into Bhutan a large number
of non-Bhutanese people of Nepali origin, take over political power in the
country and award Bhutanese citizenship, land, employment and other benefits
like free health and education facilities to the people of Nepali origin brought in
to help them achieve their political goals.
The Home Minister reminded the members that, the issue of the return of the
people who have left the country had been discussed repeatedly during the past
sessions of the National Assembly and several resolutions had also been passed.
The house had decided that the issue shall be dealt with in accordance with
resolutions passed during the 71 st Session of the National Assembly and its
subsequent sessions as well as the Citizenship Act. As such, the Royal
Government had been following the decisions of the National Assembly strictly
and would continue to do so in the future.
The Deputy Minister of the National Environment Commission expressed his
appreciation to the Foreign Minister and the Home Minister for their detailed
briefings on the background of the Ngolop problem, the achievements of the
Joint Ministerial Committee meetings and the progress made by the Joint
Verification Team. He noted that the people who had left the country on their
own accord for the refugee camps in eastern Nepal were now trying to come
back to Bhutan by claiming to be refugees.
The Deputy Minister pointed out that since the word “refugee” has serious
implications on the image and integrity of the country, there is a need to give a
serious thought to this allegation. He said that there are four different categories
of people in the camps in eastern Nepal, which was agreed by the governments
of the two countries since 1993. Amongst these people there are many who had
absconded from the country after committing serious crimes like murder,
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