Bhutan
Summary
Following Britain’s victory in the 1865 Duar War, Britain and Bhutan signed the Treaty of Sinchulu, under which Bhutan would receive an annual subsidy in exchange for ceding land to British India. Ugyen WANGCHUCK – who had served as the de facto ruler of an increasingly unified Bhutan and had improved relations with the British toward the end of the 19th century – was named king in 1907. Three years later, a treaty was signed whereby the British agreed not to interfere in Bhutanese internal affairs, and Bhutan allowed Britain to direct its foreign affairs. Bhutan negotiated a similar arrangement with independent India after 1947. Two years later, a formal Indo-Bhutanese accord returned to Bhutan a small piece of the territory annexed by the British, formalized the annual subsidies the country received, and defined India’s responsibilities in defense and foreign relations. Under a succession of modernizing monarchs beginning in the 1950s, Bhutan joined the UN in 1971 and slowly continued its engagement beyond its borders.
In March 2005, King Jigme Singye WANGCHUCK unveiled the government’s draft constitution – which introduced major democratic reforms – and held a national referendum for its approval. In December 2006, the King abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel WANGCHUCK. In early 2007, India and Bhutan renegotiated their treaty, eliminating the clause that stated that Bhutan would be “guided by” India in conducting its foreign policy, although Thimphu continues to coordinate closely with New Delhi. Elections for seating the country’s first parliament were completed in March 2008; the king ratified the country’s first constitution in July 2008. Bhutan experienced a peaceful turnover of power following parliamentary elections in 2013, which resulted in the defeat of the incumbent party. The disposition of some 18,000 refugees of the roughly 100,000 who fled or were forced out of Bhutan in the 1990s – and who are housed in two UN refugee camps in Nepal – remains unresolved. [1]
📷 : Wikipedia
Statistics
From the The Joshua Project [2]
In the News
📷 : Wikipedia
Prayer Guide
The Tibetan/Himalayan peoples comprise the majority population, with the Bhutanese people cluster numbering 50% of the population. They are strongly Buddhist, and Christians among them number only a few hundred. These scattered believers are limited to small fellowships at best; most have faced varying degrees of persecution or social ostracism. Among the five largest peoples (Dzongkha, Tshangla, Lepcha, Kheng, Gurung), only the Lepcha have any significant Christian population. Pray for the emergence of a vital witnessing fellowship in every ethnic group of the Bhutanese.
The Nepali population has suffered what amounts to ethnic cleansing since 1990. The Buddhist Bhutanese majority has suppressed Nepali culture and language and even allowed violence against people and property in the course of expelling up to 150,000 Nepali Bhutanese. The vast majority of these huddle in meagre UN refugee camps in southeast Nepal, though some emigrate to Western nations. In these camps, several dozen informal Christian fellowships have formed among those who have found faith, and the number of believers is growing. Pray that the compassion of Jesus might be demonstrated to these displaced people.
[3]