This week, the govt TV channel in this Bhutanese border town has been broadcasting appeals to citizens to donate blood. Across the border, at an Indian Air Force hospital, doctors are giving blood transfusions and performing emergency surgery on Royal Bhutan Army soldiers wounded in their first battle in 138 years—a battle for India against Indian insurgents on Bhutanese soil. If this unusual and unprecedented ‘‘blood-bonding,’’ as some local officials call it, escaped the attention of a Pakistani minister who was in Thimpu just 10 days ago, you can’t blame him. He was there to deliver the January Saarc invite to the King and perhaps unaware that a neighbour was all set, in 72 hours, to help fight India’s war on terror against ULFA, Bodo and north Bengal militants. The co-operation between the two sides couldn’t be more evident. As Bhutanese troops combed the densely wooded mountains in southern Bhutan, Indian troops across the border took up positions every 10 yards in an impregnable cordon stretching for 380 km through sometimes treacherous terrain.The day The Sunday Express visited the IAF base at Hashimara earlier this week, the hospital had treated about a dozen Bhutan soldiers. Air Officer Commanding, Hashimara Air Force base, Air Commodore N K Nowhar, when contacted said: ‘‘We cannot disclose anything at this stage beyond saying that we have been providing medical help, evacuation and other assistance as per the requirement of the Royal Bhutanese Army.’’ Back in Phuentsholing, Tsering Wangda, a joint secretary of the Home Affairs department and spokesman for the Royal Bhutanese Government, is equally cautious—and modest. No, it isn’t so selfless, he says, this isn’t a battle in which Bhutanese soldiers are sacrificing their blood for India—but ‘‘for both of us.’’ ‘‘It was with a heavy heart that Bhutan went to this war against the militants,’’ he said. ‘‘We have not fought a battle in the past 138 years.’’ Bhutan had reason to get into this war. A document of the Bhutan Foreign Ministry, saying the country’s sovereignty was under threat from militant activity, listed the reasons for the action: • Militants had seriously affected development and economic activities • Educational institutions in vulnerable areas had to be closed down • ‘‘Innocent people in Assam, WB and even in Bhutan’’ had been victims of threat, extortion and coercion • Bhutanese people travelling through India and even in Bhutan had been killed Asked about the success of the crackdown, Wangda offered a philosophical reply: ‘‘We are a fearful country and even in victory we are afraid to say that we are victorious.We believe in Buddhism and we believe that blood begets blood.’’
