E/CN.4/1995/91 page 21 Bhutan In a communication dated 28 September 1994 addressed to the Government of Bhutan, the Special Rapporteur transmitted the following comments: "According to the information received, Christianity is officially banned, in particular pursuant to the resolutions adopted by the National Assembly at its thirtieth session in 1969 and its fifty-first session in 1979. It is claimed that Christians are ill-treated and compelled to leave Bhutan. The following case has been drawn to the attention of the Special Rapporteur and summarized as follows: Mr. Dal Jit Rai, assistant to the head of the village of Kikhorthang in Chirang district, was allegedly dismissed on the orders of the Dzongda because he is a Christian. In addition, on 25 December 1992, when Mr. Dal Jit Rai was celebrating Christmas with other Christian families, a former policeman is said to have photographed them at prayer. After this incident, the worshippers were summoned by the village head who reminded them of the ban on practising Christianity and took them to the Dzongda. The Dzongda is reported to have reaffirmed the strict ban. Shortly afterwards, three Christians, Harka Bahadur Chimery, Raju Lama and Bhin Thapa were allegedly beaten during interrogation. All Christian families were allegedly forced to sign an appeal for permission to leave the country. On 5 February 1993, the Christians are reported to have been expelled and to have sought refuge on 13 February 1993 in a camp in Nepal." In reply to the allegation reproduced above, the Government of Bhutan transmitted the following information to the Special Rapporteur on 17 November 1994: "As you know, there are two religions practised by the people of Tsirang - Hinduism by the Lhotshampas and Buddhism by the Northern Bhutanese and some of the Lhotshampas. In the recent past, Christianity had made some inroads into the district because of the close interaction between the local people and the Christian missionaries across the border in Assam and West Bengal, India. Christianity was being propagated mainly from the border towns of Jaigaon in West Bengal and Dathgari in Assam. Money, gifts and scholarships were being used as incentives for people to convert to Christianity. Selected converts were used to preach and convert others in their villages in Tsirang. The local Hindu population deeply resented the continuous attempts by these persons to preach and convert them to a different faith. The matter was tabled by the representatives of the various blocks of villages during the Fifty-eighth Session of the District Committee (DYT) meeting on 27 September 1992. As the matter could not be resolved at the DYT meeting, it was brought up by the people’s representatives of Tsirang during the Seventy-first Session of the National Assembly in October-November 1992. Although the people’s representatives from Tsirang and other southern districts called for a ban on Christianity, the National Assembly resolved that the matter should be dealt with in accordance to the resolutions of previous Assembly Sessions, namely the