Groups representing Bhutanese forcibly evicted from Bhutan have written to the Japanese prime minister asking that Japan withdraw a decoration conferred upon Dago Tshering, a former home minister accused by human rights activists of being a key perpetrator of ethnic cleansing in the Himalayan kingdom three decades ago.
In April, the Japanese government said that Tshering, Bhutan's home minister from 1991 to 1998 and ambassador to Japan from 1999 to 2008, would receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, earning him the distinction of being the first Bhutanese to get the honor.
"While we acknowledge the desire of your government to strengthen mutual relationship between Bhutan and Japan through the conferral of this award, we regret to state that this very gesture of goodness has unlocked deep-seated injury and trauma that many of us Bhutanese have personally undergone during the Home Minister's tenure," the groups said in a letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga dated June 24.