Gelephu and the Lhotshampa Connection

Gelephu is a town in Sarpang District, southern Bhutan, that has become the site of the planned Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), a 2,500 km² Special Administrative Region announced in December 2023. Long before the announcement, Gelephu held deep historical significance for the Lhotshampa community — the ethnic Nepali population of southern Bhutan. Originally known by the Nepali name "Hatisar," the town was a major center of Lhotshampa settlement, commerce, and agriculture until the forced expulsions of the late 1980s and 1990s. The development of a mega-city on this land, without resolution of outstanding property claims or acknowledgment of the displacement, has become one of the most contested aspects of the GMC project.

Historical Settlement and Naming

People of Nepali origin began settling in the uninhabited lowlands of southern Bhutan in the 19th century, drawn by the fertile subtropical terrain. By 1930, British colonial officials estimated that approximately 60,000 people of Nepali origin were cultivating the southern belt.^[1] The Gelephu area, situated on a low-lying alluvial plain at the India-Bhutan border, was part of this Lhotshampa settlement zone.

The original settlement was known as Hatisar (also written "Hati Sahar"), derived from the Nepali words hatti (elephant) and sahar (town or place), meaning "elephant place" — a reference to the wild Asian elephants that inhabited the subtropical lowlands. In the 1960s, the settlement was relocated from the banks of the Mo Chhu to its present location.^[2]

In 1959, under the third King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck's policy of establishing Bhutanese-language place names across the country, the town was renamed Gaylegphug (later simplified to Gelephu). According to oral tradition, Lopen Nyapchhi, the storekeeper of the third King, played a key role in coining new names for the frontier towns, including Gelephu.^[3] The renaming was part of a broader pattern of replacing Nepali and other non-Dzongkha place names in southern Bhutan with names drawn from the dominant Ngalop linguistic tradition. Critics view this as an early expression of the cultural assimilation policies that would later intensify into the "one nation, one people" campaign of the late 1980s.

By the 1980s, Gelephu had developed into a thriving commercial town. Lhotshampa families owned businesses, agricultural land, and properties. The town contained landmarks associated with its multicultural character, including the Ashok Hotel and Losal Cinema Hall, both reportedly Lhotshampa-owned.^[4]

The 1990s Expulsions from Sarpang

Beginning in the late 1980s, the Bhutanese government implemented a series of policies that led to the forced displacement of over 100,000 Lhotshampa from southern Bhutan — approximately one-seventh of the country's population at the time. The expulsions were precipitated by the 1985 Citizenship Act, the 1988 census in southern districts, and the "one nation, one people" cultural policy that mandated Ngalop dress codes, Dzongkha language use, and cultural uniformity.

Sarpang District, where Gelephu is located, was among the most heavily affected areas. The Nepali language, spoken by the majority in Sarpang, was removed from schools in 1989. Anti-government protests erupted in southern Bhutan in 1990, met by a security crackdown. Over the following years, Lhotshampa in Sarpang and other southern districts were subjected to:

• Retroactive reclassification as "non-nationals" through census re-evaluations
• Requirement to produce citizenship documentation dating to 1958 or earlier
• Coerced signing of "voluntary migration forms" under duress
• Confiscation of land, homes, businesses, and personal property
• Harassment, arbitrary detention, and in some cases physical violence by security forces

Those expelled crossed into India and ultimately settled in UNHCR-administered refugee camps in eastern Nepal. By the mid-1990s, over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees were registered in seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts of Nepal.^[5]

Land Confiscation in the Gelephu Area

Lhotshampa expelled from the Gelephu area left behind substantial property. Hari Adhikari, a former Gelephu resident now in the diaspora, documented his family's losses: 14 acres of farmland, a three-story hotel, commercial property, and three homes — all seized without compensation. The government reportedly seized approximately 16 acres within Gelephu municipality in 1990 alone.^[4]

Following the expulsions, prime agricultural and commercial lands in the six southern districts were redistributed. According to accounts from the refugee community, much of this land was allocated to settlers from northern Bhutan, particularly ex-servicemen and their relatives, while strategically and commercially valuable plots were given to senior government officials.^[6]

Some displaced families retained physical documentation of their land holdings. As reported by the South China Morning Post, at least 11 households among the remaining refugees in Nepal possess land-holding titles to property in the Gelephu area.^[7] These documents, while legally issued by the Bhutanese government, have never been honored for purposes of restitution or compensation.

Current Refugee Population and Gelephu Connections

Of the approximately 113,500 Bhutanese refugees resettled through the UNHCR's Third Country Resettlement Program between 2007 and 2016, the largest number — approximately 96,000 — went to the United States. An additional 6,300 remain in camps in eastern Nepal, primarily in the Beldangi and Pathri camps. UNHCR and the World Food Programme withdrew support from the camps in 2016, leaving residents without institutional assistance.^[8]

Approximately 40 percent of the remaining camp residents are originally from the Gelephu area, making the GMC announcement particularly significant — and painful — for this population.^[9] Some 2,340 camp residents have expressed interest in repatriation to Bhutan, though no formal repatriation agreement between Bhutan and Nepal has been implemented.

Krishna Bir Tamang, a 54-year-old refugee who has lived in Nepal for over 30 years after being expelled from southern Bhutan, told the South China Morning Post: "We still have our land there and possess legal documents." He chose not to participate in third-country resettlement, stating: "We didn't resettle in a third country because we are bona fide citizens of Bhutan."^[7]

The Moral and Legal Question

The development of GMC on land from which an ethnic community was forcibly expelled raises legal and moral questions that have been articulated by human rights organizations and refugee advocates:

Property restitution under international law: The Pinheiro Principles (formally, the United Nations Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons) establish that displaced persons have the right to have their property restored or to receive compensation. The expropriation of disputed lands for commercial development without addressing these claims is viewed by legal scholars as a violation of customary international law.^[4]

The "mindfulness" paradox: Multiple commentators have noted what they describe as a fundamental contradiction between the stated philosophy of GMC — built on principles of mindfulness, compassion, and holistic well-being — and the unresolved injustice underlying its physical foundation. Writing in The Baffler, Andre Naffis-Sahely described Bhutan's international image as masking the fact that the country "has largely gotten away with an attempt at ethnic cleansing."^[10]

Absence of official acknowledgment: The Bhutanese government has not publicly acknowledged the connection between GMC's location and the 1990s expulsions. The Prime Minister's Office did not respond to media requests for comment regarding the Lhotshampa population's potential inclusion in GMC plans.^[9] No property restitution process, truth and reconciliation mechanism, or formal compensation scheme has been proposed.

Diaspora Perspectives

Responses from the Lhotshampa diaspora have been varied. Some, like CB Dahal, have threatened legal action: "We will go to the international court if we have to."^[7] Others have expressed cautious interest in participating in GMC's development. Resettled Lhotshampa in the United States and other countries have noted potential opportunities in tourism, IT, education, healthcare, and hospitality — while acknowledging the irony of potentially investing in development on land from which their families were expelled.^[9]

Rights organizations including South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) have called for resolution of the refugee issue as a precondition for GMC's legitimacy. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have historically documented the Lhotshampa expulsions, though neither organization had issued a formal statement specifically addressing GMC as of early 2026.

Comparative Context

GMC is not the first case of commercial development on land associated with population displacement. Neom in Saudi Arabia has been documented to involve the forced eviction of the Howeitat tribe, with death sentences issued to tribal members who resisted displacement. Amaravati, the planned capital of Andhra Pradesh, India, involved contentious land acquisition from farming communities. In each case, the tension between development ambitions and the rights of displaced communities has generated significant criticism.

What distinguishes the Gelephu case is the temporal gap — the displacement occurred three decades ago, and the affected population has been scattered across continents through resettlement — and the rhetorical framing of the development as a center of mindfulness and compassion, a branding that critics view as incompatible with its unresolved history.

See also

• Lhotshampa: Origins and Settlement in Bhutan
• Forced Eviction of Lhotshampa (1990-1993)
• Lhotshampa Name Reclamation in the Diaspora
• Lhotshampa Marriage Traditions

References

1. Lhotshampa — Wikipedia
2. Gelephu — Wikipedia
3. The Cultural History of Gelephu — Bhutan Watch
4. The hidden costs of Bhutan's Gelephug 'mindfulness city' — Sapan News
5. Bhutan's Dark Secret: The Lhotshampa Expulsion — The Diplomat
6. The Exodus of Ethnic Nepalis from Southern Bhutan — Refworld/WRITENET
7. Displaced ethnic Nepalis fume over Bhutan's 'mindfulness city' plan — South China Morning Post
8. Mindfulness about Bhutan's refugees — Nepali Times
9. What Will Bhutan's Mindfulness City Mean for the Lhotshampa Community? — Inkstick Media
10. The Mismeasure of Bhutan — The Baffler