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

His Majesty the King noted that the Assembly members had serious
reservations and doubts about the sincerity of the ULFA leaders in giving a
written undertaking, during the talks held with them in June, that they would
remove four out of their nine camps and relocate them outside Bhutan within
December 2001. The members had also inquired about the preparations made
by the Royal Government in the event the militants had to be removed through
military action. His Majesty said that it would be useful if the Home Minister
briefed the house about the various steps and measures that the Lhengye
Zhungtshog had discussed at great length to deal with any fallout and problems
that would arise from taking firm action to remove the militants.
The Home Minister, while reporting on the implications and fall outs of a
military confrontation, pointed out that from the four point resolution passed by
the 78 th session to remove the militants, military action was the fourth and last
option. He quoted the relevant section on this resolution as given below:
“The National Assembly decided that all the measures laid down in the
resolution passed by the 77 th session must be fully implemented. In particular,
the Royal Government must continue the process of dialogue with the militants
and make every effort to resolve the problem peacefully. If the efforts to
resolve the problem through peaceful measures failed to produce any concrete
results, military action will have to be resorted to in order to remove the
militants from Bhutanese soil and protect the security and sovereignty of the
country”.
The Home Minister said that the ULFA and Bodo militants had taken advantage
of the fact that Bhutan is a small country with a very small population and had
forcefully established camps in the country. He reminded the members that
taking military action against the ULFA and Bodo militants would not be easy.
It would have major implications and bring untold problems and Kidus to the
80