Sikkim and Bhutan

Sikkim is a Himalayan state of India that was an independent kingdom, ruled by Chogyals of the Namgyal line, until 1975. It is a neighbour of Bhutan, and the two states share a long and uneven history: Bhutanese forces occupied Sikkim during a succession dispute at the start of the eighteenth century and kept the area of present-day Kalimpong until 1865.^[1]

From 1889 the British Political Officer stationed in Sikkim's capital, Gangtok, also handled official dealings with Bhutan, an arrangement continued by independent India.^[2] Sikkim's merger with India in 1975 was later cited as one of the regional developments behind the Bhutanese government's fears about its ethnic Nepali population.^[4]

Bhutanese occupation, c. 1700–1706

According to the history published by the Kalimpong district administration, the Sikkimese ruler Tensung Namgyel (born 1664, enthroned 1670) married three times. A Tibetan wife bore him a daughter, Pende Amo; a Sikkimese wife bore him a son, Chador Namgyel, born in 1686. When Chador Namgyel succeeded his father in 1700, aged fourteen, his older half-sister was offended and brought in a Bhutanese invasion. The Bhutanese overran the kingdom and the young king fled to Tibet.^[1]

Chador Namgyel returned in 1706, and the Bhutanese were forced to leave the part of the kingdom west of the Teesta River. They kept the fort of Damsong and the territory east of the Teesta, then known as Dalimkot, which is roughly the area of present-day Kalimpong.^[1]

Kalimpong and the Duar War

The land east of the Teesta stayed under Bhutan until the Duar War of 1864–65. Under the Treaty of Sinchula, signed on 11 November 1865, the whole area east of the Teesta and the Duars were ceded to British India. The ceded hill tract was first attached to the Western Duars District and the following year transferred to Darjeeling District.^[1]

The Political Officer in Sikkim

In 1889 the British appointed John Claude White Political Officer of Sikkim. Although based in Gangtok, the Political Officer was also responsible for official dealings with Bhutan and Tibet. The last British holder of the post, A. J. Hopkinson, stayed on after Indian independence and handed over to Harishwar Dayal of the Indian Civil Service in 1948. Indian officers continued to occupy the Political Officer's residence in Gangtok until 1975.^[2]

The link carried into the first treaty between Bhutan and independent India. The Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship, signed at Darjeeling on 8 August 1949, was signed for India by Harishwar Dayal as Political Officer in Sikkim.^[3]

The 1975 merger and Bhutan

In 1975 Sikkim joined the Indian Union as its twenty-second state.^[2] Human Rights Watch, in its 2007 report on the Bhutanese refugees, wrote that developments in the region "no doubt contributed" to the Bhutanese government's fears about the ethnic Nepali population of southern Bhutan. It noted that Sikkim had ceased to be an independent state after a referendum in which Nepali migrants, who had come to outnumber the Buddhist Sikkimese, were instrumental.^[4] A Reuters report of 2007 likewise linked Bhutan's stated fear of being "swamped by a growing population of illegal immigrants" to the part ethnic Nepalis had played in overthrowing the Buddhist rulers of neighbouring Sikkim.^[5]

The citizenship measures and census operations of the 1980s that followed are covered in Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1985 and Lhotshampa expulsion.

References

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Bhutanese occupation, c. 1700–1706

Kalimpong and the Duar War

The Political Officer in Sikkim

The 1975 merger and Bhutan

See also

References

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