Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has said it is Bhutan’s obligation to ensure the repatriation of more than 10,000 Bhutanese refugees remaining in camps in eastern Nepal after the resettlement of over 80,000 of them in the West.

Mahat made the remarks while communicating Nepal’s position on Bhutanese refugees with visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal on Sunday.

Biswal, who was in Kathmandu for a daylong visit, raised the issue of Bhutanese refugees prominently with Mahat and solicited Nepal’s view on the possibility of their local integration. Responding that Nepal cannot commit to local reintegration of the refugees at the moment, Mahat told the US official that it is also the obligation of Bhutan and the international community to address the problem of the remaining refugees.

“Bona fide Bhutanese refugees should either be repatriated to Bhutan or the international community that has already settled over 80,000 Bhutanese refugees in several western countries including the US should take them,” he told the US official.

Biswal had sought whether Nepal can make a commitment to assimilating the Bhutanese refugees, read a press note issued after the meeting. Mahat argued that since Nepal hosted the refugees on humanitarian ground, the international community should support their right to return to Bhutan.

Stating that Nepal’s position on the refugees has not changed, Mahat requested Biswal to put pressure on Bhutan to take back the rest of the refugees.

There was no official communication or statement from the US Embassy

regarding Biswal’s visit. But Biswal tweeted, “Great to be back in Nepal. Look forward to discuss with new government on deepening ties and creating opportunity for Nepalese people.”

She had sought Nepal’s commitment on local settlement of the Bhutanese refugees ahead of the Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis to be hosted by US President Barak Obama on September 20 on the margins of the UN General Assembly.

In the summit, the US president is expected to seek new global commitments to increased funding for refugee management, admitting more refugees through resettlement or other legal pathways, and increasing refugees’ self-reliance through opportunities for education and legal work.

Mahat made it clear that Nepal will not make any commitment during the summit, said a senior official present in the meeting, as “it is Bhutan’s responsibility to take back it citizens”.

The previous KP Oli-led government had given a green signal to the Kathmandu-based UN agencies that Nepal could locally settle the remaining refugees who do not opt for third country resettlement or in case Bhutan refused to take them back.

The UN refugee agency recently told Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal that funding for the refugees has been diminishing and it is going to be difficult to fund for Bhutanese refugees beyond the end of 2016, asking the Nepali side to assimilate the refugees if possible.

Officials said that the PM had also communicated that Nepal cannot afford to integrate the refugees locally as it could also invite further complications. Biswal met PM Dahal on Sunday to discuss a wide range of issues including Nepal-US relations.