U.S. offer puts Bhutanese refugees in Nepal in confusion

The United States' recent offer that it can take in up to 60,000 Bhutanese refugees has created confusion among refugees in eastern Nepal, a leading news media group's website reported on Monday.

According to the website thehimalayantimes.com, the offer failed to attract the refugees, and instead, most of the refugees said they do not want to be resettled in the United States and they just want to go home.

Refugees said the U.S. proposal was not in their welfare. "We want to return to our homeland where we were born. Returning to our country is our priority," Bhutanese refugee Tej Bahadur Gurung was quoted by the website as saying.

He said the U.S. proposal has created confusion among the refugees.

The outlet to the problem should be sought by holding direct talks among Nepal, Bhutan and the refugees, said another refugee, Jung Bahadur Budathoki.

It is not reasonable to take us to a country where the culture and religion are aliens to us, said Naina Kala Rai of Sanischare camp in Jhapa in eastern Nepal.

Meanwhile, some refugees at Beldangi camp in Jhapa welcomed the U.S. proposal. They issued a statement, saying that as no solution had been found to their problem and the U.S. proposal was reasonable.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also stressed the need for looking for alternatives to solve the problem of the refugees.

A few months ago, some 3,000 Bhutanese refugees wrote a letter to UNHCR, demanding they be accommodated in some third country.

Some 105,000 Bhutanese refugees have been living in seven camps in eastern Nepal for the last 15 years.

As many as 15 rounds of bilateral talks held between the Bhutanese and Nepali governments have failed to yield any results.

Source: Xinhua