A personal story of discrimination in Bhutan

Posted On September 14, 2011

This is a personal story of a Bhutanese failing to obtain citizenship due to discriminatory policy of the country. There are thousands of such citizens currently living in the country as they fail to find any appropriate forum to speak of their grievances. 

To obtain the citizenship of Bhutan, the following three options are laid out;
i. Citizenship by birth
ii. Citizenship by registration
iii. Citizenship by naturalization.

Citizenship by birth takes into condition of both parents to be of Bhutanese origin and citizenship.

Citizenship by registration is for those who have an official record of them being present in Bhutan before 1958.

Citizenship by naturalization, article 6 of the constitution of the kingdom of Bhutan, from page 9, says a person who applies for citizenship by naturalization should satisfy the following:

i. Should have lived in Bhutan for more than 15 years
ii. Should read, write and speak Dzongkha proficiently.
iii. Should have no record of ever spoken against the tsa-wa-sum
iv. Should abide by the rules and regulations of the country
v. Should understand and follow the culture, history and tradition of the country etc.

The procedure for receiving the citizenship through naturalization follows the following:
i. First of all, after we apply for naturalization, the committee comprising of high level officers check on the documents and the whole family history.

ii. Only those who satisfy the conditions of the panel and the constitution are let to attend the interview.

iii. It is a wait of almost a year when we know we are selected for the interview, and a further wait till our date arrives.

iv. In the interview, the whole family needs to be present. In the interview, the whole family needs to be present including children of any age. Incase, if any one of the member is absent due to any reason including sudden unfortunate mishap, then this whole family is disqualified for the interview. However, they will be asked to attend next time with a reminder to make sure that every member is present.

v. We are asked question individually, asked to sing songs, hymns etc. in the national language.

vi. All are also asked to write some words or two in the national language too.

This is my story, of a typical person engulfed in census problems… There are many others like me who are drawn in just like me and we know all the census measures government has taken to regulate the problem. I have my friends who do not know which form they are in when I say I m f-5, they muse and ask “what form”? its typical of those who have no census problems and I don’t blame them too. The only problem arises when they look at us with shady eyes as if we have a dragger hidden beneath our dress. So my story, which tells the similar story of hundred others is to clear the minds that we are not in bad faith and we are stuck in this dilemma where we cant do anything to improve our lives.

The white patches of cloud shades the blue sky above the last Shangri-La and as well, the dark clouds hover over some of its residents, regarded only as the specially permitted.

It’s been almost two decades that my grandfather has been frequenting to the Tashichhoddzong to board on to the flight of citizenship ID but even the glimmer of hope seen in the first step fades away when the next step is too high to reach. This is my story, a self financed graduate of 24 years of age. I had my class XII marks to get in college for higher studies with royal government’s aid, but my special residential permit denied me that time. I did my graduation from India and now again, I seem to get nowhere. My census problem aroused when my grandfather could not produce an official record of his presence in the country before 1958. However, he produced village heads record and there statement to the census officers stating that if they are false the government may punish them according to the law of the land including life imprisonment showing he was present before 1958, but that was not entertained and it can clearly be understood, People may fake some records. My grandparents didn’t give up. Since then, from 1990, my grandpa has been visiting Tashichhoddzong and to some extent, he was successful to have been short listed and appeared interview. Photograph of whole family was taken in presence of the panel of judges signifying we are all qualified. But this interview bore no significance as he is still rounding up and visiting to the Dzong/ zimpons office hoping that some day his almost two decades of hard work may bear fruit for his offsprings. It should be noted that he served the armed force for 3 decades.

Five years thence……..
From the Far East like merak and sakten to the central north of Zhemgang, western tip of Haa and southern points like Dorokha, groups of people seem to share this common bond. According to the constitution of Bhutan to obtain the citizenship of naturalization, interviews were attended in front of a delegate of distinguished home ministry officials. This is not at all new, and in the previous years, after approximately about two years, the cases were settled, that is whoever passed through the interview, the citizenship was granted and those who didn’t, they were not.. For families whoever attended the interview after 2005 which also includes my family, they have not been clarified with the queries whether their pleas have been rejected or approved and are still waiting, save for those who seemed to have slipped through with some push and pull….!

I would think I am not the only one sharing this problem, there are many who face the same and this would calm me down to sleep, but recently some developments made it clear that I m lagging behind with the basic fundamental rights.

The wait can be understood, the government and the ministry has a lot of work to do. There are lots of families, lots of information, case histories to be dug out and not to forget the usual works to be done at the ministry which may slow down the progress. But what I don’t understand and what made me pour myself to the forum is the following, what about those wealthy and high official foreign citizens who are “gifted” citizenship of Bhutan without attending an interview, nor have they lived in the country for even a decade, nor do they know even half of what we know about Bhutan, nor can they speak in Dzongkha, leave alone singing prayers and songs. Is there any amendment which the public doesn’t know of it yet, or is it simply that they are above the law? Well you may say they must have done some good work, but I have read every nook of the constitution, and no article states the same. I can understand if Father McKay was given citizenship, he did a very great deal of service to the country. People like him deserve citizenship without any hindrance, but what great work has those people done who have married to wealthy people or high officials, or was that the great thing?? You need not crumble your forehead to dig out examples; it is laid out in open. These facts thus culminate into a major gap that has to be filled in this regard. The democratic public may not be able to digest such a major gap in the actual running of constitution, and this truly calls for a fast approached amends in this regard. Why Bhutanese are made non-Bhutanese and why are non-Bhutanese made Bhutanese with so much an ease?

I have a family of clean records, the only gap that of my grandfather who cannot prove “officially” that he was in the country prior to 1958 during 1990 national census, but my parents, I and my siblings were born on this soil. We really are indebted to the government for allowing the same, but what now?? We are stuck in between the pan and the fire. What is my fault here? I have adapted to the rules, regulations, culture, tradition all my life till now… why am I wronged to feel I am a Bhutanese citizen and why am I being segregated still, even after applying for citizenship by naturalization, which in itself is an irony as I and my parents were born in this very land of the thunderbolt.

Fact file:
It is really a very alarming word to speak out but I will convince you that “Bhutanese constitution infuses gender discrimination to the weaker sex”. In census, if a Bhutanese man marries a foreign lady, there is no citizenship problem for their offspring. But if a Bhutanese lady is married to a non Bhutanese man, then hell breaks loose. Their children are denied citizenship, and as is my topic, even if they apply for citizenship by naturalization, they have to sit an endless wait. So is this not gender discrimination??

Recent development is provision of the small green-ID card for the Special residential permit holders. But these too are given to only those whose parents have married before 1985 and I m clearly not in the league, hence I carry the paper form of special residential permit. Again, its an irony when the children of my fathers friends who were born after 1990 are carrying the SRP card !!!! and most shocking they have marriage certificate after 1985 only. Home ministry may not agree but it’s a fact n true!!!!!!

On in personal terms, a just passed graduate with an aggregate more than enough to land up a job in the government, I have been running from one government offices and corporations to another for the past one year. But I was returned back as my “special residential permit-in paper” did not comply with their needs. The next thing, a visit to the dzong is a default choice for families like ours though the visit every time yields the same answer of. “Your case is being forwarded”. And if this statement was not enough, scolding and humiliating statements like “who told your grandmother to marry a citizen of other country”, or “ask your parent why this, that” etc. are put on us. We don’t have anything to reply to this, nobody realizes that we are frequenting the administrative offices to mend or cover up for the mistakes/faults that anybody in the family has committed if any. Instead of helping us, they scold us for inheriting those faults and for being born in the family which we so treasure a lot.

But no, what we do is just inherit the accusations without a chance to mend it. My parents are not residents of the capital and for me to search the job and to visit the Dzong requires me to stay at a relatives place. Now I m beginning to smell their frustration and irritation on me being in their house, not that they are wrong in it!! Who would want an unemployed adult at his house just eating away free cereal??

After so long a wait, an abrupt halt comes to our requisition, letters, visits to the dzong to ascertain our status when the head of the concerned department or ministry says, “Your case is being processed, you will get your results soon”, or “we have forwarded your requisition, we did the most we can do, we don’t know of any new developments yet, when we do, we will inform you, please wait..”. But how soon is the waiting of more than 20 years, how soon is the processing and how long is the forwarding when the wait exceeds four years, how soon is it?

We know the ministry officials /zimpoens too get an eye sore seeing us every other day, and we understand the difficulties for them, but the problem is no one has an exact and correct answer to our queries. If they give an exact solution or a fixed date, who would knock on their doors time and again? Like a very heavy bag between coolies, where every coolie refuses to carry it, we are forwarded from one department to another, one officer to another and after a full circle, we at last reach again to the very first official we met in the morning, and all the wait in the long queue, knocking on the doors, requests, pleas go in vain, and we return home dejected. We don’t even have a higher authority to go to. The highest ones are hard to meet, and when they do, they just give an encouraging but nonexistent statement and date.

While applying to the college after I was not eligible to royal government scholarships, my admission was halted for a while as I lacked proper citizenship identity. At those few moments, I was a citizen of no country. With persuasion and explanations, we were granted admission. Nobody else, other than the ones who carry the paper which declares us as citizen with residential permit know the embarrassment, humiliation, fright we feel when showing the paper in India, or in offices, checkpoints, institutions within Bhutan. A constant fear lingers in our mind when we cross into Bhutan from India through the border gates. On seeing a policeman. I sometimes just can’t stop thinking if the policeman may just lock me up while crossing the border, or even when roaming in town coz of my documents. Thank God and those policemen who have not inflicted me with those horrors.

Nobody, except the ones that carry the paper (The proof saying we are citizens with special residential permit), know the embarrassment, humiliation, fright one has to endure while showing the “virtual” citizenship document in gates, offices, institutions… only we know the pain….

I had lots of friends in college and usually used to return home with them in groups. There were lots of friends who had the citizenship card and some who didn’t. I used to carry a file as I feared the paper which was my only entry through gates of Bhutan may get damaged. Once after crossing the Kharbandi check point between Thimphu and Phuentsoling where we were asked to show id card and as I showed my paper from the file, my friend told me, “I feel something, something uncomfortable when I see u carrying the file and showing the paper while we show a small card”. It was a sympathetic comment. She didn’t notice but a small moisture enveloped my eyes, and I thought if only……………………..

Recent developments:
DPT government has it seems tried to come to a little rescue. From what I hear, some 3 member tshogpas have been appointed to probe the presence of residents prior to 1958. From what I have seen and heard, our village and the neighbouring villages have not a whiff of these developments . This can be due to LG elections but its been all over now and it has not been resumed yet but I m optimistic that it will soon continue and will be over by this year end.

In conclusion I would like to let u know that my grandfather now is 74yrs. My dad 48yrs. With SRP card n myself 24yrs. With SRP time bound paper. This is not an article showing sword to the governing body, but it’s an appeal to look through the procedure we have been through and do the needful. Its not that we are asking neither citizenship to be given automatically nor are we asking for any type of decree which will guarantee our citizenship. We have gone through a procedure which has taken a lot of not only our time and money, but also the governments, so what I, on behalf of all those who face the similar problem am asking is just to follow through on what was started legally, n issue us our identity constitutionally.

By anonymous writer in Bhutan Today forum. Many sufferers in Bhutan write under pseudo name since public appearance through original name risk their life and livelihood in the country.The writer again in a separate threat challenge the census director Sonam Tobgay for this statement. Read below:

“They (form 5 people) enjoy the same status as that of the citizens. Only thing is that they are not allowed to vote ” – Census Director. How stupid can a responsible person like a census director talk, that too in media where each word spoken is read by thousands of people. May i then ask Mr. Sonam Tobgey to clarify following questions.

If Form 5 people can enjoy equal status that of a citizen then please, Mr. Sonam Tobgey clarify the following points:

1. Can form 5 people inherit the land own by their parents?
2. Can form 5 people apply for government job?
3. Can form 5 people obtain business licenses?
4. Can form 5 people buy assets such as bank shares, flat and land?
5. Can form 5 student apply for government scholarship?
6. Can a form 5 patient, if required be forwarded to out country treatment?

Dear Mr. Sonam Tobgey, do you still support that form 5 people enjoy equal status that of a citizen? You are either trying to act smart or are ignorant of the sufferings endured by this group of people. Your single sentence “Form 5 people are not citizen” printed in the media might have ripped many hearts apart, for as long as we notice these people are loyal, law abiding and never have been liable to any grave misconducts. Why is government so pissed of that it never considers form 5 people eligible for citizenship. Have form 5 people been caught carrying bombs and rifles? Have form 5 people been caught smuggling illigal materials or have they been caught forging documents? These are the people who have been eagerly waiting for the support of government to consider their appeal for citizenship.

The citizenship act was framed and approved 20 years back or so. This was the time when women haad little or no role to play in the governement. So we can fairly sum up that all the rules under the law were constructed by gentlemen and ladies had no say at all. This is the reason why the citizenship act clearly descriminates the previlege of female while granting citizenship to her child. Otherwise how come that a child automatically becomes Bhutanese if his father is Bhutanese while a child is stateless if a mother is Bhutanese. Just like a foreigner mother holds SRP, why not a foreigner father holds SRP and his children be granted citizenship as in the case of form 4 status. If our leaders and ministers were far sighted enough they would have amended the law to provide equality to the women of Bhutan. How can government justify its notion of equity and justice when thousands of Bhutanese women are descriminated? RENEW and NCWC are silent and neglecting this grave issue because they are more focussed towards receiving the funds from foreigners and other sources. Else they should have a say on this rising issue. To expect anything on this unjust issue from these two organizations would be a miracle.

Dear Mr. Sonam Tobgay, you talked about obtaining citizenship thourgh naturalization. Let me tell you a pathatic fact. There are files, and when i say file i mean thousands of files containing filled up naturalization forms rotting at the immigration office since 10 or more years. And people have been following up requesting for the processing and attending the naturalization interview. But why is that not a single genuine naturalization case has been processed? Why is that immigration officers always sings a tone “We have no authority from Home Ministry yet”. Have you ever asked your immigration officers like how many people are naturalised till date? Apart from rich and powerful, there is not a single common man who has received citizenship through naturalization. You are not concerned because you are not affected by the census issue. You cannot understand the pain people are living with. When will the government allow people to gain citizenship through naturalization? Population of these afftected people are increasing day by day and the future of the new generations are spoilt. Have you ever thought what will happen to the children of a form 5 people, and their children’s childen and so on. Using a lame excuse of National Security to punish these innocent children will not help for long. Have you thought on their rising population and growing frustration?

The orthodox decision of the old parliament has segmented people into groups called forms. Where is one Nation One People? Is this not the time to unite people and make them Bhutanese. Why dont you atleast open up the door for Naturalization so that these people have a way out, even though many of them may not make it to citizenship. You say one thing to the media and the public and order something else to the immigration officers. This is time MOHCA does something to remove these forms. People in Bhutan should either be Bhutanese or Non-National, and if some of them are non-national then government should ask them to leave. But these complicated form of census categorization into form 1, form 2, etc is making Bhutan a complicated Nation, more so in the coming future.