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Ques: Your Excellency, we would like to offer our sincere good wishes in your new position as the Dean of the Diplomatic Community. Will you please enlighten us on the duties of the Dean and how you have been coping with the new position?
Ambassador: Thank you very much for your good wishes. It is a great honour to be Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and a privilege to represent some 112 resident Ambassadors and High Commissioners at many official functions. It is also my privilege to be able to interact closely with many of the distinguished colleagues in Delhi.
An important factor in nurturing India-Bhutan relations is the well-established tradition of exchanging regular high-level visits. How do you view Indo-Bhutanese relations?
Bhutan and India, apart from being close neighbours, have good understanding and cooperation. As friends there is a lot of sharing of concern and other matter of mutual interest with each other. Therefore, there have been many exchanges of visitors at high level and by the senior officials of the two countries. The state of India-Bhutan relations, therefore, can be described as being excellent.
India and Bhutan signed a political Treaty way back in 1949. According to Article 2 of that Treaty, at least theoretically, Bhutan is required to consult India in the conduct of its external relations. Do you feel that with so many changes around the world, Article2 of the Treaty is still valid?
Article 2 of the 1949 treaty between India and Bhutan states, “the Government of India undertakes to exercise no interference in the internal administration of Bhutan. On its part the Government of Bhutan agrees to be guided by the advice of the Government of India in regard to its external relations”. This has never been an impediment in the conduct of Bhutan’s bilateral and international relations. Today, Bhutan is a member of United Nations and belongs to many international and regional organizations including that of SAARC.
India is responsible for Bhutanese security and the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) is based in Bhutan to provide training to the Bhutanese security forces. Even so, both countries have been bothered by militants from North-east India. What is your country’s view as far as the problem is concerned?
Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) has been in Bhutan for imparting training to the Royal Bhutan Army and its role is confined to imparting training.
The concern about the Indian militants, viz, United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) has been there for many years. We discovered their presence in 1995 and we have been negotiating with them for over six years to facilitate the militants to move out of Bhutan peacefully. But their top leadership refused to attend on various pretexts, thereby rendering the talks inconclusive. On many occasions, responses by the militants to the Royal Government’s repeated invitations for talks were either inordinately delayed or never received at all.
The removal of the militants from our soil has preoccupied the highest levels of the Royal Government and their presence violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. It has also been thoroughly deliberated at each session of the National Assembly of Bhutan, which charted a clear strategy to remove the militants, including dialogue with them, and military action as the last resort.
Over six years of effort to negotiate with the militants yielded no results. Earlier commitments made by the militants to remove their camps in Bhutan were also subsequently reneged upon. Sadly, Bhutan’s preferences for a peaceful solution were mistakenly construed by the militants as a lack of our ability or resolve to resort to more punitive measures.
During the 81st session of the National Assembly of Bhutan held in July-August 2003, the Royal Government of Bhutan was mandated to make one final attempt to persuade the militants to leave peacefully. Talks were subsequently held with the ULFA and the NDFB in October and November 2003 respectively, but could not achieve the desired result. The two outfits remained non-committal on leaving Bhutan, while the KLO did not respond to the RGoB invitation for talks.
In the light of the above, Bhutan has been compelled to flushing out measures against the militants. The continued illegal presence of a large number of armed foreign militants in the dense jungles has become a serious threat to the security and well-being of the people of Bhutan. They not only imperil Bhutan’s national security, economic development but also threaten to undermine the traditionally close ties of friendship between India and Bhutan and trade between the two countries.
As we continue measures to flush out the ULFA, NDFB and KLO camps in Bhutan, we seek the understanding and support of the people of India, particularly in the neighbouring States of Assam and West Bengal.
Over the last few years, His Majesty the King of Bhutan has expressed his wish to bring in democracy. For the moment, however, the significance and relevance of the monarchy is irreplaceable for the unity of the country. Is there a move towards democracy in Bhutan?
You know the monarchy has been the fountainhead of all progressive changes in Bhutan. The people and the representatives of the clergy elected the first king of Bhutan on 17th December 1907. We now celebrate this day as the National Day of the country.
His Majesty, Jigme Singye Wangchuck is the 4th King of the Wangchuck dynasty. Ever since he was enthroned in 1974, there have been series of measures to introduce more progressive and representative systems of governance. A programme of decentralization was launched in 1975 with elected local bodies. In 1998, for the first time the Council of Ministers were elected by the National Assembly and handed over the executive power to the Cabinet. A mechanism for expressing vote of confidence in the reigning monarch was adopted by the National Assembly. In 2001 a 39-member committee was set up to draft the written Constitution for the country. Although Bhutan is known to the world as a monarchy, democratic institutions and practices are already firmly well-rooted in the polity.
There is an elected legislative body, a judiciary and an efficient executive – all arms of the Royal Government.
Indo-Bhutan economic cooperation is a living example of the two countries strong bonds. In view of Bhutan’s modernisation programme, do you feel that the economic cooperation between the two countries will increase?
There is free trade between the two countries. Future prospects are looking bright as India is emerging to play its rightful role as an economic power. Bhutan’s per capita income is expected to rise from the present US$ 755. Economic cooperation with India and other countries will also grow steadily. The RGoB has brought out a guideline for encouraging Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The last decade has seen sweeping and profound changes in Bhutan. As a Bhutanese, how do you perceive these changes?
Bhutan is no longer the isolated, closed country that the outside world perceived forty years ago. Today, the Bhutanese continue to march forward into the 21st century with confidence and optimism. Satellite TV, Internet and cellular phones — all globalizing influences have already reached Bhutan. There is no going back, people will have to march with changes while retaining what is good in our own culture. I feel fortunate that I have not only been a witness to the vast changes that have come into the country, but also a small instrument of that change. I say this because, I joined the Bhutan government service in 1961 the year we launched the First-Five Year Development Plan. Bhutan is now in its second year of the Ninth-Five Year Plan.
A few years ago, the King told a foreign journalist that, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product, because happiness takes precedence over economic prosperity in the national development process”. As a Bhutanese, do you think the country and the people are coping well with the modern changes while maintaining their distinct culture and traditions?
We realize that no government can provide happiness to its entire people in packages but it can definitely make conditions conducive to make people’s lives meaningful and satisfying. The development philosophy for Bhutan, as enunciated by His Majesty is to strive for Gross National Happiness (GNH). We are convinced that economic development would be meaningless if in the end it left the people with a feeling of unhappiness and emptiness in their lives. Therefore, GNP is only a means to realize the goal of GNH. It also means participation and improving people with a view to promote the concept of Gross National Happiness. We have identified four pillars to support this concept, namely; balanced regional development, conservation of the natural environment, promotion of culture and good governance.
It is not for us to judge our own achievements but those who have been associated with the process of development in Bhutan have given us sufficient reason to believe that Bhutan is moving towards the right directions. Economic and social indicators show that life expectancy has risen from 45 years to 65 years, rate of literacy from 40% to 55%, per capita income from US$ 70 to $755. If we take these as indications, we are coping well with modern changes while maintaining our distinct culture and tradition.
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