Talks underway between govts. of Bhutan and India do not seem to have made headway Permit: Almost a year later and the issue of immigrations at the airports in India and Nepal refusing to recognise travel documents of the resident-permit holders in Bhutan remains unresolved. Recently, a manager with a private company in the capital had to cancel his trip to Nepal. Upon processing his travel document, he was informed by the person at the desk at foreign ministry’s passport section that it wouldn’t work as a document to travel to that country. He had gone to the ministry, with hopes that the matter would have solved, since the problems emerged in September last year. “So I dropped the idea of that trip,” he said, adding it was very disappointing to learn that the authorities concerned had not taken up the issue with either of the countries. Foreign ministry’s chief of protocol, Kunzang N Tshering said, for now, no discussions on the recognition of travel documents of resident-permit holders have surfaced from any country. “We haven’t sent any document saying not to accept our travel document, neither did the authorities in Nepal and India make a mention pertaining to this document and the changes needed,” he said. He said the protocol department’s duty was to issue the travel documents and high level discussions or more on the issues would be carried out by the bilateral department. Initially, he said, there were people, who called up to inquire about it but gradually that too stopped. It was in September 2012, when the New Delhi immigration stopped accepting the travel document, followed by the immigration in Kathmandu that followed suit. This year in June, officials had told media that discussions were underway in Thimphu between the governments of Bhutan and India to resolve the issue. However, officials from the bilateral department could not be reached to comment on the status of the discussions. Meanwhile, the travel document was accepted in India, if individuals had visas in advance. This also worked for them if they were travelling to other countries like Thailand, for which you have to possess a visa beforehand. Drukair officials also said the same. “We don’t allow resident permit holders to travel unless they have visa,” commercial manager of Drukair, Namgay Wangchuk said. However, the same method was not entertained by Nepalese authorities. The chief of protocol said, in India’s case, having visa in advance and travelling, however, was “not the permanent solution”. Travel documents are given to those people, who aren’t eligible for passports. The travel document is also an identification document, issued by the ministry to foreigners married to a Bhutanese citizen and their legitimate children, primarily for travel to countries beyond India. It was also made available to Bhutanese, whose census was under process for consideration. Travel documents had been recognised by both Indian and Nepal airport immigrations until last year September. The documents were issued to many people, who visited India for studies and medical treatments, and those who travelled to Nepal for pilgrimage or visits. By Rajesh Rai
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 23:18:41 +0000
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