ABSTRACT
Within days of the launching of the military operations, Bhutan was claiming that all the 30 camps of the organizations — the United Liberation Front of Asom, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the Kamatapur Liberation Organization, with 13, 12 and five camps respectively — had been ‘smashed’. According to the Bhutan government, the military operations are an all-Bhutan affair, with King Jigme Singye Wangchuk himself leading his troops from the front. The arrival of the militants from Assam and the construction of the camps and their infrastructure injected a lot of money into an area that even by Bhutan’s standards is economically underdeveloped. The statement announcing the birth of BCP and the 10-point demands announced on 1 May, along with the slogans adopted, may not immediately pose a threat to the monarchy in Bhutan. The virtual blackout of all news from inside Bhutan has led to wild speculations and propagation of urban legends.
