According to some media reports, India has accepted for the first time that the matter of Bhutanese refugees is an international dispute. India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has told media that the Bhutanese refugees is an international problem and the government of India is trying to find out a solution of this problem. Pranab said this after meeting with the West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday.

Earlier on many occasion, the government of India had termed the Bhutanese refugees issue as the bilateral issue between Nepal and Bhutan till now. But, fir the first time, the government has changed its stand on this issue by terming it as an international issue.

Pranab Mukherjee said further that Nepal is not accepting the refugees as Nepali citizens. Bhutan is not accepting them as Bhutanese citizens.

The refugees want to enter Bhutan and they want to pass through Indian Territory. West Bengal CM has urged the center to initiate a dialogue between Nepal and Bhutan to work out a solution to the matter.

India has friendly terms with both Nepal and Bhutan. The 100,000 Bhutanese refugees want to enter Bhutan that may damage the demographic imbalance in Bhutan where the population is about 600,000. The report says that some 107,000 Bhutanese refugees have been spending lives in as many as seven camps in eastern part of Nepal for the last 16 years.

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