THE UPROAR over alleged trafficking of Nepalese nationals as Bhutanese refugees abroad, which has dominated headlines in the local media and led to several high-profile arrests, found its echo in the House of Representatives in Nepal with the opposition parties demanding a probe into the allegations. On being denied a chance to speak, Amaresh Kumar Singh, an Independent member, stripped his shirt to lodge his protest. He was warned by Speaker Devraj Ghimire not to act in a manner that compromises the dignity and decorum of the House. The “refugee scam”, based on statements of over 400 victims, allegedly involves wards of powerful politicians — at least two of them Cabinet ministers who are currently with K P Oli-led Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist — who took huge sums of money to send Nepalese citizens to the US as Bhutanese refugees. Media reports also suggest that several influential politicians are beneficiaries of the scam. The opposition parties in Nepal’s Parliament disrupted the budget session on Monday, demanding a debate on the “refugee scam”. PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who had announced outside the House that he will have the matter probed in detail, failed to show same commitment in the House.
