KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- Talks set to begin Christmas Day between Nepal and Bhutan on the Bhutanese refugee problem have sparked hopes of repatriation among the refugees.

According to local media, a 10-member Bhutanese delegation led by Bhutan's foreign minister will arrive in Kathmandu Dec. 24 for the 10th round of ministerial-level bilateral talks scheduled to open here the next day.

Father P.S. Amalraj, Jesuit Refugee Service field director for Caritas Nepal, told UCA News, "The Bhutanese refugees have welcomed these 'glad tidings' and are looking forward with great hope."

Close to 100,000 ethnic Nepalese refugees from Bhutan live in camps in eastern Nepal. Most fled Bhutan in the early 1990s, claiming they had been persecuted or expelled due to their ethnicity.

The "Kathmandu Post" daily in early December quoted Dago Tsering, Bhutan's ambassador to Nepal, as speaking about moving "towards settlement in this round of ministerial level talks."

Rakesh Chettri, executive director of the Center for Protection of Minorities and Against Racism and Discrimination in Bhutan, also believes the coming talks "may be the beginning of the end of the refugee issue."

"This time, it is different," said the Kathmandu-based refugee leader, "because it is the first time the international community has clearly supported Nepal's viewpoint on the problem instead of remaining neutral."

According to Chettri, almost 20 percent of Bhutanese in the refugee camps are Christians. He also maintains that 10 percent of Bhutanese are Christians and that they are "a hidden minority in Bhutan."

Sister Winifred Rai of the Daughters of the Cross Congregation, an ethnic Nepalese from Darjeeling, India, told UCA News Dec. 18, "There is a large number of Christians in the camps. I will be celebrating Christmas (there)."

She said, "We are all praying for the success of the talks due to start on Christmas Day, to which the refugees look with great hope. The main thing needed is a spirit of forgiveness here, so that repatriation can start."

Refugees in Shanischare camp in Morang district observed Bhutan's national day Dec. 17 with a procession and a rally. According to Prem Bhandari, headmaster of the Shanischare camp school, speakers called for the inclusion of a refugee representative in the scheduled talks.

In a letter faxed to King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan, the refugees also asked for a chance to talk with Bhutanese rights leader Tek Nath Rizal and to be informed about his health.

A statement that the Association of Human Rights Activists-Bhutan issued Dec. 17 expresses concern over the plight of Bhutanese refugees and calls for assistance from the international community.

The statement of the association, formed by refugees in the camps, says that 5,000 rupees (about US$67) has been raised by refugees for Rizal through the sale of "Sandesh" (message), a weekly circulated in the refugee camps.

It also says the amount raised by the paper's sales will be regularly sent to Rizal as a symbol of support and solidarity.

The king pardoned Rizal, a rights activist in Bhutan sentenced in 1989 to life in prison for treason and subversion, on national day in 1999.

He has since sought the release of all political prisoners in Bhutan, the "dignified repatriation" of the refugees and an audience with the king.

Father Amalraj noted that Caritas Nepal and Jesuit Refugee Service are helping to educate Bhutanese refugee children, many of whom were born in the camps, through schooling and the training of teachers and leaders.

Manindra Malla, a senior Caritas staffer, told UCA News that Caritas has run schools in the camps since 1992. In 1999, she said, 36,405 girls and boys were attending primary schools, and 1,682 others were in secondary schools.

Records for 1999 show that the seven refugee camps sheltered 96,024 people, 15,018 families in all, of whom 53 percent were children below 18.

In 1985, Bhutan introduced a Citizenship Act that denationalized more than 120,000 Lhotshampas, Nepali-speaking Bhutanese living in southern Bhutan.

The Buddhist kingdom three years later adopted its policy of "Driglam Namzha," which banned cultural and religious expression by ethnic minorities.

END