After seeing  all this frenzy about Olympic Torch and Anti China sentiments shows by Tibetan exile in Nepal/Abroad and friends of Tibet all around the world, this stroke a chord with me and reminded me of our own refugee problem in our country that has been lurking for almost last 15 years.

Bhutanese refugee crisis started in Nepal when I was in my pre- teens and like many Nepalese have not given much thought about it because it was not my problem. It amazes me how little we Nepalese i.e. including me think about it despite the grave economic and social impact it has had in our country. (There are several other crises in our country which we give a damn about.)

Initially I thought lack of political will by our incompetent leaders has resulted the current situation, but I gradually realized who are these leaders? Aren’t they   reflection of Nepalese people and society? It is not only solely politician fault but larger share of blame belongs to the people. We as Nepalese people are narrow minded, self gratifying, selfish and egocentric who fails to see beyond their four walls. We as an individual might have succeeded and as a society we failed miserably.

So my point is there are more than 100 K Bhutanese Refugee of Nepali Origin are living in refugee camps in Nepal. These people of Nepalese origin represents all different ethnic groups of Nepal ( Bhaun, Chettri,Newars,Rai,Magat etc). I have never seen real consistent solidarity and support shown by any major political force of Nepal except few Political rhetoric shown by political parties to pacify foreign donors.

This also reminded me of the time when Nepal hosted SAF games (I think it was 1998 or 1997), I saw huge support of Bhutanese athletes except times when they played against Nepal. It was time when Maoist insurgency was still in its infancy and Bhutanese refugee was already an old story. Even then I was quite amazed to see Nepalese love of this country when their bothers and sisters were being persecuted and driven away from the house, property and land they owned for generations.

So Guys if Bhutan hosts Olympics, are we ready to protest? Peaceful of course…he he…….just my two cents..