In the case you ever visit the Bhutanese refugee camp in Jhapa district, Nepal at Beldangi II, Sector I-1, Hut No 39, the first question you will be asked is whether you are the one who will take them to see their sons. Ram Chandra Guragai Ram Chandra Guragai The aged couple, Ram Chandra Guragai, 73, and Yasoda, 69, are living on the good will of their neighbors. Simple and essential tasks such as fetching water from the nearby tap and preparing meals are no longer possible for them most of the time. People age all over the world, and in Bhutanese refugee society the elderly are usually cared for by the families of their children. For Ram Chandra and Yasoda, however, this care is a dream, as their family is about 10,000 miles away. Two years ago the Guragai family started the resettlement process. As a family they faced the violent mass exodus from Bhutan. As a family they endured 18 years of struggle and poverty in the refugee camps of south-eastern Nepal.

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What crime has Shanti Ram Acharya committed so that the Bhutanese authority sentenced him for seven-and-a- half year? Does the authority have any strong and authentic evidence to charge Acharya's involment in subversive activities? Was he provided with access to an independent lawyer to plea? The call for Acharya's release continues despite the Druk authority's attempt to conceal the facts regarding the High Court's one-sided-and-politically motivated-order to sentence him for such a long time without any genuine reason. On January 23, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called for the leniency for Acharya, 20, who was arrested by the Bhutanese security forces on January 16, 2007 at Tashilakha area on charges of being the member of underground outfit Communist Party of Bhutan. Showing worrisome at the High Court's sentencing of journalist Acharya, the international media watchdog says “The IFJ urges Bhutan’s authorities to take a humanitarian view of the case of Acharya and review the harsh sentence imposed on him.”

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