SECURITY Situation at Indian-Nepali border at Kakarbitta

This is not a new situation. I crossed the border at Karkebitta Apr 29 and again May 5. We flew KTM to Bhadrapur and back to KTM after travelling to Darjeeling and Sikkim. There were road strikes at that time in the area, as well, relative to some demonstrations by several local ethnic groups including Madeshis. Our taxi driver simply went off the main highway and took some backroads from the border to Bhadrapur and we had no problems. No one appeared to be bothering foreign tourists.
Bhutanese refugees have been living in a camp in eastern Nepal for many years. Many (in fact most) of these people had lived for several generations in Bhutan - owned homes and land - but were descendents of Nepalese immigrants to Bhutan. Bhutan's government decided to send them back "home", even though many had never lived in Nepal during their lifetime. Their situation has become desperate- population of the refugee camp has grown considerably over the years. Nepal can't afford to support them. They want to return to Bhutan but their government will agree to take only a select few based on criteria that they set. The UN has been involved in negotiations to repatriate them. The US Government and several others offered to take a large number of the refugees - but they, much to their credit, have said they don't want to go the the USA or anywhere else. They want to go home to Bhutan! The talks go on and on. The living conditions get worse and worse for the people. And, the status quo remains.
Interesting that so many people are willing to pay the high rates set by the Bhutanese Government for foreign visitors to tour Bhutan....and many view the country as a peaceful, model state....and, there are so few protests about the treatment of the large number of these displaced persons .
However, this is just one of the many issues that are "stirring the political pot" in the southern border regions of Nepal. It would appear that at least some of the responsibility for this unrest lies at the door of agitation instigated by former members of the Maoist People's Army who clash with current members of that organization and both encourage minority ethnic groups in the area to agitate. Of course, there are some who blame the "Royalist" faction for stirring up unrest and the Royalists blame the interim government and the interim government blames the Maoists ----and so the circle goes round and round.
No one can predict what the situation will be in the middle of August, Poster #9, the only thing you can count on is that the weather will be wet and humid. It's going to take awhile to sort out these disputes.