RSS
During the 1870s, power struggles between the rival valleys of Paro and Tongsa led to civil war in Bhutan, eventually leading to the ascendancy of Ugyen Wangchuck, the ponlop (governor) of Tongsa. From his power base in central Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuck defeated his political enemies and united the country following several civil wars and rebellions in the period 1882–1885.
In 1907, an epochal year for the country, Ugyen Wangchuck was unanimously chosen as the hereditary king of the country by an assembly of leading Buddhist monks, government officials, and heads of important families. The British government promptly recognized the new monarchy, and in 1910 Bhutan signed a treaty which “let” Great Britain “guide” Bhutan’s foreign affairs. In reality, this did not mean much given Bhutan’s historical reticence. It also did not seem to apply to Bhutan’s traditional relations with Tibet. The greatest impact of this treaty seems to be the perception that it meant Bhutan was not totally sovereign.
After India gained independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, Bhutan became one of the first countries to recognize India’s independence. A treaty similar to the one of 1910 was signed 8 August 1949 with the newly independent India.
In 1953, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck established the country’s legislature – a 130-member National Assembly – to promote a more democratic form of governance. In 1965, he set up a Royal Advisory Council, and in 1968 he formed a Cabinet. In 1971, Bhutan was admitted to the United Nations, having held observer status for three years. In July 1972, Jigme Singye Wangchuck ascended to the throne at the age of 16 after the death of his father, Dorji Wangchuck.
In the 1980s, in order to strengthen Bhutan’s identity as a nation, the “one nation, one people” campaign was started to foster greater integration of the peripheral ethnic and cultural groups into mainstream Bhutanese society. The age-old code of conduct, known as Driglam namzha, and usage of the official national language, Dzongkha, was promoted. At around the same time, a nationwide census revealed a large population of Nepali origin in southern Bhutan. The national census showed that there was rampant illegal immigration of ethnic Nepalese into Bhutan and steps were taken to identify all the illegal settlers, who were later deported. When the government attempted to remove the illegal settlers, there was a violent backlash; numerous acts of terrorism were carried out against government schools, hospitals, offices, and neutral southern Bhutanese. In order to re-establish order in the south, the government recruited many young men and able-bodied civil servants into a militia force. Many southern Bhutanese, including a number of political dissidents, fled to Nepal along with the illegal settlers, where they were admitted into United Nations High Commission for Refugees-run camps. The UNHCR’s primary failing in this was in not having any procedure of verifying whether the refugees were from Bhutan or whether they were at all Bhutanese.
As the governments of Bhutan and Nepal could not agree on any terms for repatriation or resettlement in Nepal the refugees remained in their camps in Nepal for 17 years. Now through the generosity of the United States around 70,000 of these refugees are being settled in the US as third country settlement programme.
In late 2003, the Bhutanese army successfully launched a large-scale operation to flush out anti-India insurgents who were operating training camps in southern Bhutan.
Democratic reform and modernization
In 1998, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck introduced significant political reforms, transferring most of his administrative powers to the Council of Cabinet Ministers and allowing for impeachment of the King by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly.
In 1999, the government lifted a ban on television and the Internet, making Bhutan one of the last countries to introduce television. In his speech, the King said that television was a critical step to the modernization of Bhutan as well as a major contributor to the country’s Gross National Happiness (Bhutan is the only country to measure happiness), but warned that the “misuse” of television could erode traditional Bhutanese values.
A new constitution was presented in early 2005. In December 2005, Jigme Singye Wangchuck announced that he would abdicate the throne in his son’s favor in 2008. On 14 December 2005, he announced that he would be abdicating immediately. Bhutan has now entered a new era of democracy, starting with its first national parliamentary elections in December 2007 and March 2008.
On November 6, 2008, 28-year old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, eldest son of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck was crowned King of Himalayan Kingdom.
Religion
The Taktshang Monastery, also known as the “Tiger’s Nest”. Bhutan is a predominantly Buddhist country. The introduction of Buddhism occurred in the 7th century AD. According to legend, Guru Rimpoche ordered the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen to have 108 temples built all over the Himalayas. Doing so would aid in subduing a demoness and allow for the construction of Samye Temple in Tibet. Two of the 108 temples are in Bhutan, one in Paro and the other in Bumtha, and were built around AD 637.
