The King of Bhutan, H.M. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, is western educated and a very modern forward thinking man. (This picture is a copy of the one that hangs in nearly every home. King is on the left, the supreme religious leader Je Kenpo on the right). He has abdicated his legislative powers to an appointed ministry and an elected legislature, but on December 15 of 2004 he returned to his warrior roots and personally led an attack against 31 camps of Indian separatist terrorists along the southern border with India. At 9am precisely, the King hoisted a shoulder-carried mortar and charged into one of the camps of the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) surprising the camp which was in the midst of having a morning meal. The coordinated attack at all 31 camps was carried out by the entire Bhutanese army of 5,000 men armed with AK-47s and small mortars, as well as two thousand of the royal guards. Thirty thousand Indian troops had been offered by the Indian Prime Minister, but declined by the king, who felt that this attack should be carried out only by Bhutanese in defense of their own border. Previous attempts by the Indian army to remove the three terrorist factions from southern Bhutan had ended in tremendous casualties for the Indian army, and some Indian generals had felt that further attempts would be a suicide misison.
The terrorist groups were heavily armed, including heavy mortar, machine guns, and anti-aircraft weapons. They had been fighting in India from their bases in Bhutan, Bangladesh and Burma since the 1980s. The Indian government had been pressuring Bhutan to take action against them and had stopped funding major development projects in Bhutan including the building of a new hospital in Thimphu. The king had personally visited all 31 camps, under the guise of paying tribute money and to try to encourage them to leave peaceably. He had tea with many of the terrorist commanders.
The king also started a program of patrolling southern Bhutan, ostensibly to take a land survey, so the terrorists were accustomed to seeing government officials in their area. A new lakhang (Buddhist temple) was built in southern Bhutan near some of the major terrorist bases, and in early December 2004, the king arrived with many officials and royal guards, ostensibly to dedicate the new lakhang.
The Indian government had evacuated many border hospitals, preparing for Bhutanese casualties, but after touring Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital in Thimphu to determine available bed space, the king requested only 40 beds be reserved in Thimphu, saying that if he had more than forty wounded, that he would lose the war.
On the morning of the 15th, "surveyors" entered all 31 camps. A loud puja was being held in the lakhang within earshot of some of the camps, and at 9 am the attack began, led by the king himself, defeating all 31 camps within an hour and a half. It took two additional days to capture the remaining stragglers or force the remainder to cross into India where they were captured by the Indian army. Although many hundreds of terrorists were killed, Bhutan lost only 10 men and 30 wounded.
In memory of this battle, and out of gratitude at not having lost the king to it, the four queens have built 108 chortens to commemorate his victory.
I heard this fascinating account from the king's personal physician, who accompanied him on the trip to drive out the ULFA.
