Politics of Bhutan - A documentry by Jogen Gazmere (FT 03)

Jogen, Human Rights Officer in the UN-Office of the High Commission in Nepal sent us a copy of his documentary ‘Politics of Bhutan’, dedicated to his friend Mr. D. K. RAI, a political prisoner, who is serving life imprisonment in Bhutan since 1990.

“The film’s main objective is to call upon the conscience of the viewers to contribute towards ushering in a genuine democracy, peace and avoid Bhutan from becoming another killing field”, says Jogen.

In 1989, Jogen himself spent more than two years in solitary confinement for a booklet he published ‘Bhutan: We Want Justice’, wherein he had criticized the Bhutanese King Jigme Singhe Wangchuck for his anti-Human Rights laws and policies. Jogen was later released by Amnesty International.

“Twenty years later, in 2008, the Bhutanese struggle that started with the call for Protection of Fundamental Human Rights has transformed into a People’s War, spear-headed by the Bhutanese Maoists”, says Jogen. And as a person having traversed through twenty years of turmoil, I have made an attempt to document the struggle in ‘Politics of Bhutan’.