Ethnic Cleansing of the Lhotshampa

The ethnic cleansing of the Lhotshampa was a systematic campaign carried out by the Royal Government of Bhutan between approximately 1990 and 1993, during which over 100,000 ethnic Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens were forcibly expelled from the country. The expelled population — constituting roughly one-sixth of Bhutan's total population at the time — was driven into refugee camps in southeastern Nepal, where many remained for nearly two decades before being resettled to third countries. The campaign involved the deliberate denationalization of citizens through discriminatory legislation, a coercive census, the suppression of a peaceful protest movement by military force, and the systematic use of arrest, torture, rape, and destruction of property to compel departure. It is recognised by human rights organisations as one of the most significant cases of ethnic cleansing in modern Asian history.^[1][2]

Background

The Lhotshampa — literally "people of the south" in Dzongkha — are an ethnic Nepali-speaking population that had inhabited the southern foothills of Bhutan for generations. Many families traced their presence to the 19th century, when the Bhutanese state actively encouraged Nepali-speaking settlers to cultivate the malaria-infested southern lowlands. By the 1980s, the Lhotshampa constituted an estimated one-third of Bhutan's total population of approximately 600,000. They were predominantly Hindu, spoke Nepali, and maintained cultural practices distinct from the Buddhist Ngalop majority that dominated the government and the northern and western districts.^[3]

The Ngalop-dominated government in Thimphu grew increasingly alarmed by Lhotshampa demographic growth and by the democratic revolution in neighbouring Nepal in 1990, which overthrew the absolute monarchy. Fearing that the Lhotshampa might similarly challenge Drukpa political control, the government under the Fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, implemented a series of policies designed to consolidate Ngalop cultural supremacy and reduce the Lhotshampa population.^[4]

Instruments of Denationalization

The 1985 Citizenship Act

The Bhutan Citizenship Act of 1985 retroactively imposed a requirement that citizens prove residence in Bhutan prior to 31 December 1958. This was a near-impossible standard for many Lhotshampa, as the first modern census had only been conducted that year and many rural families had never possessed written documentation. The Act was applied selectively: Ngalop citizens in the north were not subjected to comparable scrutiny.^[1]

The 1988 Census

The 1988 census in southern Bhutan was conducted exclusively in the southern districts and classified residents into seven categories. Only those classified as "F1 — genuine Bhutanese" retained citizenship rights. Tens of thousands were reclassified as non-nationals through arbitrary and inconsistent application of the criteria. Family members were placed in different categories; people with tax records, voting histories, and government-issued documents spanning decades were declared illegal immigrants.^[3]

Driglam Namzha

The Driglam Namzha code of etiquette and dress, enforced from 1989, required all citizens to wear traditional Ngalop clothing (gho and kira) and follow Ngalop cultural norms. Nepali language was removed from school curricula. These policies were experienced by the Lhotshampa as a direct assault on their cultural identity and a signal that they were not considered true Bhutanese.^[4]

The 1990 Protests and Crackdown

In September and October 1990, tens of thousands of Lhotshampa participated in mass demonstrations across the southern districts, demanding restoration of civil rights, withdrawal of Driglam Namzha, reinstatement of Nepali in schools, and reversal of the denationalization policies. The protests were largely peaceful, though some incidents of property damage and confrontation with security forces occurred.^[2]

The government response involved large-scale security deployment. The Royal Bhutan Army and Royal Bhutan Police were deployed throughout the south. All protest participants — and, by extension, the broader Lhotshampa population — were branded as ngolops (anti-nationals). Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and academic researchers have documented the following as part of the subsequent crackdown:^[1][2]

• Mass arrests: Thousands of Lhotshampa were arrested, including community leaders, teachers, civil servants, and students. Many were held without charge or trial.
• Torture: Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented systematic torture of detainees, including beatings, suspension from the ceiling, burning with cigarettes, denial of food and water, and electric shocks. Torture was carried out in army camps, police stations, and improvised detention facilities.
• Rape: Security forces committed rape against Lhotshampa women as a deliberate tactic of intimidation and humiliation. Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases in its reports.
• Destruction of property: Homes, schools, and temples in southern Bhutan were destroyed or seized. Land and property belonging to expelled or fleeing Lhotshampa were confiscated by the government and redistributed to Ngalop settlers.
• Forced signing of "voluntary migration forms": Lhotshampa were coerced into signing documents stating that they were leaving Bhutan voluntarily, forfeiting their citizenship and property. Those who refused to sign were subjected to escalating harassment, detention, and violence until they complied or fled.

The Expulsion

Between 1990 and 1993, the bulk of the expulsion took place. People were forced out through multiple mechanisms: direct military escort to the Indian border; coercion through "voluntary migration forms"; withdrawal of citizenship documents and all associated rights (education, healthcare, employment, land ownership), making life in Bhutan untenable; and the creation of a pervasive atmosphere of terror in which remaining was equivalent to accepting ongoing persecution.^[1]

The expelled Lhotshampa crossed into the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam and then made their way to southeastern Nepal, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established seven refugee camps in the Jhapa and Morang districts. By 1996, the camp population exceeded 100,000. The largest camps — Beldangi, Goldhap, Khudunabari, Sanischare, and Timai — became semi-permanent settlements where an entire generation of Bhutanese grew up in exile.^[5]

Scale

The total number of Lhotshampa expelled from Bhutan is estimated at over 100,000 — approximately one-sixth of Bhutan's total population at the time. This makes the Bhutanese expulsion one of the largest ethnic cleansing operations in proportion to national population in the post-World War II era. An unknown additional number of Lhotshampa who remained in Bhutan were internally displaced, stripped of citizenship rights, or subjected to ongoing discrimination.^[5]

International Response

The international response was largely inadequate. Bilateral talks between Bhutan and Nepal, conducted over 15 rounds between 1993 and 2003, failed to produce any repatriation. Bhutan used the census classifications to reject the vast majority of refugees as non-citizens. India, which controls Bhutan's foreign and defence policy through bilateral treaties, declined to pressure Bhutan on the issue. The United States and European nations, which generally maintained positive relations with Bhutan, did not impose sanctions or meaningful diplomatic consequences.^[1]

Beginning in 2007, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom agreed to resettle Bhutanese refugees through a UNHCR-coordinated third-country resettlement programme. By 2023, approximately 113,000 refugees had been resettled, with the United States accepting the largest number — over 96,000. While resettlement provided refugees with physical safety and economic opportunity, it also represented the permanent severance of their connection to Bhutan and the abandonment of the right of return.^[5]

Bhutan's Position

The Royal Government of Bhutan has never acknowledged that the expulsion constituted ethnic cleansing. The official position maintains that those who left were illegal immigrants, voluntary emigrants, or criminals who had participated in terrorist activities during the 1990 protests. The government has consistently refused to permit the return of refugees, and no Bhutanese official has ever faced legal accountability for the campaign of violence and expulsion.^[6]

Legacy

The ethnic cleansing of the Lhotshampa remains the defining human rights issue in modern Bhutanese history. It contradicts the nation's international image as a peaceful Buddhist kingdom devoted to Gross National Happiness. For the Lhotshampa diaspora — now scattered across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe — the expulsion is the central event of collective memory, a wound that resettlement has not healed. The refusal of the Bhutanese state to acknowledge what happened, offer accountability, or permit return ensures that this remains an open question of historical justice.^[6]

References

1. Human Rights Watch. "Trapped by Inequality: Bhutanese Refugee Women in Nepal." 2003. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/nepal0903/
2. Amnesty International. "Bhutan: Forced Exile." 1994. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa14/004/1992/en/
3. Minority Rights Group International. "Lhotshampas in Bhutan." https://minorityrights.org/communities/lhotshampas/
4. WRITENET / Refworld. "The Exodus of Ethnic Nepalis from Southern Bhutan." 1995. https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/writenet/1995/en/33123
5. UNHCR. "Bhutanese Refugees." https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/bhutanese-refugees.html
6. The Diplomat. "Bhutan's Dark Secret: The Lhotshampa Expulsion." September 2016. https://thediplomat.com/2016/09/bhutans-dark-secret-the-lhotshampa-expulsion/