Bilateralism under the shadow: The problems of refugees in Nepal-Bhutan relations

Formally Nepal and Bhutan established diplomatic relations in 1983. Such a move was presumably prompted by the enthusiasm and calculation with which the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SARC) scheme was being given a formal shape following the proposal made by Ziaur Rahman, then President of Bangladesh. In 1985 the first South Asian summit accepted it, turning SARC into an association - South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC). However, the two Himalayan kingdoms, Nepal and Bhutan were not new nations to the south of the Himalayas, as their civilisation links were more deep-rooted than political and other interactions. Even for knowledgeable scholars of the South Asian region, the close cultural and economic relations between them remained uniformed until Bhutan was thrown into the recent ethnic conflict generated by the alleged discriminatory policy - implementation of the Bhutanese State against the "southern Bhutanese" or people of Nepali origin.