Dago Tshering

Lyonpo Dago Tshering is a Bhutanese politician and diplomat who served as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (c. 1989–1991), Minister of Home Affairs (1991–1998), and Ambassador of Bhutan to Japan (1999–2008). His tenure at the Ministry of Home Affairs coincided with the period in which over 100,000 ethnic Lhotshampa (Nepali-speaking Bhutanese) were expelled or fled from southern Bhutan, creating one of the largest refugee crises in modern South Asian history.^[1]

Dago Tshering is regarded by the Bhutanese refugee diaspora and multiple human rights organisations as a principal perpetrator of the policies that led to the mass denationalisation and forced displacement of the Lhotshampa. A coalition of 47 international Bhutanese organisations described him as "a principal perpetrator of human rights violations" who played a central role in "throttling the voice of democracy in Bhutan during the 1990s."^[2] The Royal Government of Bhutan has not publicly responded to these specific allegations, though it has historically characterised the departures as voluntary migration by illegal immigrants.^[3]

Political Career

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs

Dago Tshering served as Deputy Minister (also referred to in some sources as Assistant Home Minister) of Home Affairs from approximately 1989. In this capacity, he oversaw aspects of the enforcement of the Bhutanese Citizenship Act of 1985 in the southern districts, which had been applied through a census in 1988 that resulted in the reclassification of many long-standing Lhotshampa residents as non-citizens. The census, conducted only in the southern districts, placed residents into seven categories ranging from F1 (genuine Bhutanese citizen, with proof of residence prior to 1958) to F7 (non-national), with only those able to produce land tax receipts dated 1958 or earlier qualifying for full citizenship.^[4]

Human rights organisations documented that the census process was administered by poorly trained officials and applied inconsistently, with many ethnic Nepali residents who had lived in Bhutan for generations denied F1 status even when they presented documentation. The categorisation system became a mechanism for stripping citizenship from tens of thousands of Lhotshampa.^[3]

The August 1990 Directive

On 17 August 1990, in his capacity as Deputy Home Minister, Dago Tshering issued a directive that has become one of the most cited documents of the Bhutanese refugee crisis. The directive stated that "a large number of Southern Bhutanese people" had "left the country to join forces with the ngolops [anti-nationals]" and ordered that "any Bhutanese national leaving the country to assist and help the anti-nationals shall no longer be considered as a Bhutanese citizen." Critically, the directive extended collective punishment, declaring that "such people’s family members living under the same household will also be held fully responsible and forfeit their citizenship."^[5]^[6]

According to refugee accounts documented by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, this directive provided the legal basis for a campaign of arrests, torture, destruction of homes and crops, confiscation of property, and forced signing of so-called "voluntary migration certificates" under duress. Security forces made detainees sign declarations stating they were leaving Bhutan voluntarily as a condition of their release. The Bhutanese government later cited these signed forms as evidence that the departures were voluntary.^[3]^[7]

Minister of Home Affairs (1991–1998)

Dago Tshering was promoted to Minister of Home Affairs in 1991, a position he held until June 1998. As Home Minister, he oversaw the ministry during the period of the largest-scale departures and expulsions of Lhotshampa from southern Bhutan. By the end of 1992, more than 80,000 refugees were living in UNHCR camps in southeastern Nepal; by 1996, the figure had exceeded 100,000.^[1]

During his tenure, the Driglam Namzha (national dress and etiquette code) was enforced as mandatory for all citizens, including Lhotshampa, under the broader "One Nation, One People" policy framework. Nepali was removed as a language of instruction in schools and discontinued on radio broadcasts and in the National Assembly. Hindu priests in the south were reportedly pressured to abandon religious practices, and citizens were fined for not wearing the prescribed national dress.^[6]^[3]

In an October 1990 statement cited by The Wire, Dago Tshering framed the government’s actions in administrative terms: "We were not planning to throw out anybody. We wanted to issue identity cards — red ones to the genuine residents, who were here before 1958, and green ones to later immigrants."^[8] Critics have argued that this framing obscured the discriminatory application of citizenship criteria and the coercive measures used against the southern Bhutanese population.

Relationship with Tek Nath Rizal

Dago Tshering’s role also intersected with the case of Tek Nath Rizal, a Lhotshampa member of the Royal Advisory Council who had been elected in 1985 to represent southwestern Bhutan. According to accounts from refugee sources, Dago Tshering was among the officials who worked to undermine Rizal, who had raised concerns about corruption and discrimination against the Lhotshampa. Rizal was arrested in 1989 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993 on charges of treason and sedition. He was released in 1999 after serving a decade in Chamgang jail. Amnesty International designated Rizal a prisoner of conscience.^[7]^[9]

The Government of Bhutan’s Position

The Royal Government of Bhutan has consistently maintained that the people who left the country in the early 1990s were either illegal immigrants who had entered from Nepal after the 1958 citizenship cut-off, or voluntary migrants who chose to leave. In a 1992 interview, Foreign Minister Dawa Tsering stated that an unchecked increase in Bhutan’s Nepali-speaking population risked the country becoming "another Sikkim and Darjeeling" — a reference to the incorporation of the formerly independent Kingdom of Sikkim into India in 1975 after demographic changes led to a popular referendum.^[10]

The government characterised the cultural policies of the late 1980s, including the enforcement of Driglam Namzha and the promotion of Dzongkha, as necessary measures for the "preservation and promotion of national identity" and for safeguarding the "sovereignty and security of the nation." The Fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, framed the threat in existential terms, expressing concern that unchecked Nepali immigration could lead to demands for a separate state within a generation.^[10]

Human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have disputed the government’s characterisation. HRW documented that many of those expelled held valid citizenship documents and that the process of stripping citizenship and forcing departures was systematic and coercive rather than voluntary. Amnesty International reported that thousands of southern Bhutanese were imprisoned and more than 2,000 were tortured during this period.^[3]^[7]

Ambassador to Japan (1999–2008)

Following his tenure as Home Minister, Dago Tshering was appointed Ambassador of Bhutan to Japan, serving from 1999 to 2008. In this role, he worked on strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries, including cultural and development cooperation. The Bhutan–Japan relationship deepened during this period, with Japan becoming one of Bhutan’s most significant development partners.^[11]

Order of the Rising Sun Controversy (2021)

On 29 April 2021, the Government of Japan announced the conferral of "The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star" upon Lyonpo Dago Tshering, in recognition of his contributions to strengthening relations between Japan and Bhutan. He was the first Bhutanese national to receive this decoration. The formal ceremony, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, was held in Thimphu on 6 September 2022.^[11]^[12]

The award sparked immediate and sustained protest from the Bhutanese diaspora. The Global Bhutanese Campaign Coordination Committee, representing 47 organisations worldwide, sent a formal letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga requesting the award be revoked, citing Dago Tshering’s role in "the eviction of over 100,000 Bhutanese citizens" and describing him as "a racist, ruthless and corrupt former home minister." Human rights activist and former political prisoner Tek Nath Rizal publicly criticised the award, calling it inconsistent with Japan’s stated commitment to human rights.^[1]^[2]

The Japanese government did not revoke the award. As of 2022, the decoration stands.

Legacy and Assessment

Dago Tshering remains one of the most polarising figures in modern Bhutanese political history. Within the framework of the Royal Government, his career represents decades of senior service spanning home affairs, diplomacy, and international relations. To the estimated 108,000 Bhutanese refugees who spent nearly two decades in camps in Nepal before being resettled to eight countries — including more than 90,000 to the United States — he is seen as a central figure responsible for their displacement and statelessness.^[13]

No formal accountability process has been established for the events of the early 1990s. Dago Tshering has not faced criminal charges or any international legal proceedings related to the Lhotshampa expulsions. The Bhutanese government has not issued an official apology or offered repatriation to the refugees. Bilateral negotiations between Bhutan and Nepal, which began in 1993 and involved fifteen rounds of ministerial talks, failed to produce a repatriation agreement. The United States-led third-country resettlement programme, which began in 2007, effectively resolved the humanitarian crisis in the camps but left unresolved the underlying questions of citizenship, accountability, and justice.^[13]

As of the early 2020s, Dago Tshering appears to be living in Bhutan. His current status and activities are not publicly documented. Approximately 6,500 refugees remain in camps in Nepal, and an estimated 20,000 Lhotshampa who were not in camps remain stateless in Nepal and India.^[13]