On 26 December 1990, I was at home resting after completing the morning round of farm-work. My wife was doing her daily chores and my six daughters were busy playing. My villagers felt fearful, as the members of Royal Bhutan Army were conducting regular raids. As I lay resting on my bed, five well armed army personnel came straight into my house. One of them asked me, “Are you Dik Bir Rai?” I said, “Yes.” Then he said that the army commanding officer in Goshi, the district headquarters, wants to see me and asked me to go with them. He was talking in an easy and casual manner. He added that it will not take too long in Goshi and that I could be back home by tomorrow morning. He asked me to carry some clothes as it would be cold at night. I started putting on my “Gho” (knee length ethnic costume of northern Bhutanese). Before leaving the house, I told my wife where I was being taken and asked her to look after the house and the children well. At this time, my youngest daughter was six months old.

The sound of stick hitting Dharma Raj in Chhimi’s office was reverberating in our room upstairs. While being beaten, Dharma Raj was heard constantly uttering the name of Hindu God, ‘RAM’. He was saying, “Ram … Ram” every time he was hit with the stick.

Next day around 8.30am, an army constable came and took me to the office of commanding officer Major Chachu, within one of the classrooms. I saw Major Chachu with three other army constables and two fellow villagers, who were being interrogated and beaten up. I knew Major Chachu from earlier. He comes from my village. He immediately said to me, “You are here because you have done something terribly wrong.” I replied, “I haven’t done anything wrong.” He said that he had information about the political party cadres coming to my house. I said, “Dasho, there is hardly any place where the party cadres have not reached.” He then asked, “What did they want”? I said they asked me for some donation and I gave them Nu. 101.00 ($4 back then and $2 now). 

Then Major Chachu said, “It is because of this donation issue that we have brought you here and now you have to give more details of what happened then.” I told Major Chachu that due to the severe threat from the party cadres, I felt compelled to give the donation. I told him that I had been resisting giving a donation to them for the past three months, but when the pressure was too much to bear, I gave it to them. Fiddling with his pistol on the table, Major Chachu threatened me to tell him the truth. He said that he has lots of information about the huge donation made by me to the party. I asked him in turn that whoever has given such information should also be arrested and brought here so that we can have a face to face discussion on the matter. Major Chachu was infuriated and ordered the constable to hit me and I was beaten several times with a stick. In an intimidating tone, Major Chachu said, “Why are you are talking in this manner?” I told him, “If I am wrong you can kill me. As I am under your control, you can do whatever the government laws allow you to do.” After half an hour of rigorous interrogation, I was taken back to the detainees’ room. From the same evening, my hands were tied in the front with a piece of rope. Every day after dinner the detainees’ hands were tied till late next morning.

From the following day, I joined the other detainees in the routine task of cleaning the school premises that housed 22 detainees and around 50 army personnel. We were also required to cut down trees to make firewood for daily cooking. We were asked to repair the approach road to the school premises. Everyday a few more villagers were arrested, brought into the detention centre and beaten while being interrogated. Some of them were released the same day, while others were released a few days later. Among 22 of us who continued to be detained, Yam Bahadur Chuwan, Om Bahadur Mishra and Punya Prasad Dhakal were subjected to very heavy beatings and torture. Regularly, Dasho Chhimi and Dasho Kipchu visited our place to take statements from the detainees. As Chhimi always beat the detainees while taking a statement, the detainees were scared of him the most.

A few weeks later, I was made to go with the army to the villages in order to confiscate and forcibly collect cardamoms from the villagers. The block headman and assistant headmen were asked in advance to roundup the villagers, mobilize volunteers and confiscate cardamom from the listed households. The army went to designated points in the village to collect the cardamoms. I was required to list down the amount of cardamom collected from different places and later provide the list to the concerned army officer back in Goshi. We usually collected 8-10 sacks of cardamom daily from different villages, brought them to Goshi school and stored them in one of the classrooms. Every fortnight, one truck full of cardamom was taken away from Goshi school by the army. For almost two months, I was used by the army for this task.

After one and half months of detention, the army told us that King Jigme Singhe Wangchuck would visit Goshi. All detainees were driven to the pine forest by the army and made to cut and collect pine stems and leaves. These leaves were brought to the school and spread out in different places for the King’s reception program. The detainees were also made to construct temporary toilets for the reception program. One late afternoon, Major Chachu came to our room and informed us about the King’s arrival and asked detainees to observe “driglamnamzha” (northern Bhutanese traditional etiquette) specially asking the detainees not to look straight at the King’s eyes. He asked us to stand up and bow down immediately once the King comes inside the detainees’ room.

Later in the evening, the King arrived in Goshi. Around 8.30pm King suddenly came to our room accompanied by ADC, Major Chachu, Dasho Kipchu, Dasho Chhimi and few others. The King asked Major Chachu in Dzongkha as to what the detainees were doing before being brought to the detention. Major Chachu said that they were working as ordinary farmers. Then the King asked, “What did they do later?” Major Chachu told him that later on they joined and supported the political party. Then the King inquired about the food provided to detainees. He asked how many times the food is given to them. Major Chachu said that detainees are given breakfast in the morning, lunch at 10am, tea in the afternoon and dinner at night. Then the King ordered Major Chachu to release the detainees and asked Chachu to tell us to behave well and remain away from bad things when we returned back to our villages. The King finally said that the records of all the detainees will be seen before they are released. The King left our room. 

After a few minutes, Dasho Kipchu came back to our room and told us that the King is in a meeting and that you all will possibly be released by him and you might be able to go home tomorrow. Then he went away. One hour later Dasho Kipchu came back again to our room and informed us that we all have to stay back for 12-13 days longer. He said that King is presently on a tour and has just come from Samchi and will be leaving for Neuli. He said that after the King’s visit to different parts of the country, he will be back in Thimphu and will send the order for our release. And Dasho Kipchu told us to not to be worried or hurt. He asked us to stay calm for 12 more days after which we would be released.

Before the King’s Goshi departure, one of the detainees, Tul Bahadur Samal, was released the following morning. He had been arrested and detained for just a week. After the King’s Goshi departure, the process of raid-arrest-detention-release continued in the district. As 22 of us were made to do the daily chores in and around the detention centre, we continued witnessing many new detainees being brought in regularly and beaten up seriously during interrogation. The usual questions during interrogation were whether the person in question attended the party meeting, where /when was the meeting attended and who was behind the burning of a school or a basic health unit in the village?

After three weeks, when there was no news of our release, I went and met Major Chachu, who was standing in the school grounds. I asked him whether we would be released and allowed to go home. After a considerable silence, Major Chachu said, “Of course we all should be going back home.” Then I told him that it is important for the villagers to be back home as we have to cultivate the land, plant crops, get essential food items for the family. In a light-hearted manner I told him, “Your family does not have to worry about all these things, because you send a car load of food to them regularly in the village.” I told him that the situation of detainees’ families back in the villages is very different. He again said that you all will, of course, be going back home and that I too need to go back home. But even after three months of detention, the day of our release did not come by. We carried on with our lives as detainees, as usual, without any contact with our families.

While in detention, Punya Dhakal, on the request of his family, was allowed to visit his house for a baby-naming ceremony, when his second son was born. Four well armed army personnel took Punya to his house in the village for the ceremony and brought him back to detention immediately in the afternoon.

Punya always looked worried and scared. He was physically weak and mentally depressed due to prolonged torture and ill-treatment by the army. One day, sharing his story, Punya told me that he was arrested from Kalikhola (an adjoining sub-division) two months before my arrest. After his arrest, his hands were tied behind and he was brought to Dungpa office in Goshi, where he was tortured by the army. He was heavily beaten with sticks and randomly kicked and punched. The torturers lifted him up and threw him hard onto the concrete floor. He said that even after transferring him to the school, torture continued. One day Punya showed me the place near school, where the army kicked him from behind near Dungpa (sub-divisional) office, sending him rolling down the slope finally landing near the water tap close to the residence of school headmaster, Mr. K. G. Niar from India. When he complained that his ribs had been broken, he was instead kicked by the army forcing him to get up and keep moving back to the Dungpa office. Another time Punya was taken near to the house of Mr. Thapa (Maila) and literally thrown down the slope. He went tumbling down far below. Again, the army went down and started beating him and telling him to walk back. While we were together in detention, every day after 9am, Punya Dhakal was taken to Major Chachu’s office and made to write a statement and submit it to Major Chachu. Punya was required to write all about his activism in the democratic movement, his time spent in India for his education and other related matters.

One evening, when we were about to sleep, Major Chachu came and spoke to the detainees, saying that our release was not possible from Goshi and that we all are required to go to Damphu, from where we may possibly be released soon. He asked us not to worry, as his constables will be taking the detainees to Damphu. He also asked the detainees to shave, wash and get ready in the morning. After Major Chachu left the room, we discussed our situation among ourselves and we concluded that the King had decided not to release us. At this moment, an elderly detainee, Hom Nath Gautam, expressing his deep fears said that we will never ever be released. I consoled Hom Nath saying to him not to lose hope and to work together for positive change in the country.

Next day, at 8am we were asked to take breakfast. At 9am, 22 of us were divided into two equal groups and put into two Hilux vehicles, with two well armed army constables, in each vehicle. At 1pm we reached Sunkosh. The army stopped at Jholung Bazar, for around 15 minutes, to refuel the vehicles. We reached Damphu at 3.30pm. We were taken straight to Damphu High School ground and handed over to the army stationed in the school, which had been converted into an army barrack-cum-detention-cum-torture centre. We were then taken by ten army constables to the first floor of school and detained in the library room. As we walked through the school building corridor, we saw scores of detainees kept in several class rooms guarded by armed guards on each room door.

At night we were provided with one set each of plate and cup. They served food in our room. The rice was completely rotten containing significant numbers of mouse droppings. The curry was made out of squash which had been kept buried in the soil. When we took the squash, it still had lumps of soil stuck on the thorny surface. Huge amount of hot chilli was thrown into the curry and salt was added to it. The rotten fats obtained from oxen were used for cooking. When the army came to serve food to the inmates, the whole room was filled with a horrible smell, due to the rotten fats. Because of this repugnant smell, most people could not take food. And as usual, our hands were tied with a rope after dinner time. For emptying the bowel and bladder, a tin container was supplied in each room to be used by all detainees.

Next day, around 10am the detainees saw Dasho Chhimi coming in his car from Dratshang (a Buddhist monastic school) towards Damphu school. Chhimi had a distinctive car with its roof painted white and the remaining parts painted green. Referring to Chhimi’s arrival, the senior detainees in the next room alerted the new arrivals saying that ‘Yama’ is coming. As Chhimi was famed for torturing and tormenting the detainees during interrogation, everyone addressed him as ‘Yama’, meaning ‘God of Death’. As soon as he reached the school, two army constables came upstairs and unlocked our room door. The constables told us that Dasho Chhimi is calling us downstairs to his office and took us there. All 22 of us were huddled into his office room. Around six constables were in the room with Chhimi. One of the constables was holding a big stick in his hand. It was chilling to see the blood stains on the walls in this office room. Chhimi ordered us to stand in a line and we stood as ordered. Then one by one, the detainees were beaten ruthlessly by the constable with the big stick. Those who fell on the ground, being unable to bear the beating, were beaten further. After completing one round of beating, Chhimi asked us to behave well and stay in detention, while he investigated the case of each detainee by crosschecking the records in the district as well as in the centre. Finally, we were then taken back to our room upstairs.

On a regular basis, Chhimi took the detainees to his office to obtain their statements. In the subsequent sessions of interrogation and torture, if any detainee happened to slightly change his statement, then he would be summoned next time and subjected to further beatings and questioning. Those detainees, whose statements remained consistent, were still called in his office at the end of each month and beaten severely a few times with the big stick. Chhimi also used one of the detainees named Bal Bahadur Tamang to beat up other detainees during the interrogation. Bal Bahadur was a tall and well build person. When several detainees sustained severe injuries through his brutal beatings, fellow detainees persuaded Bal Bahadur not to cooperate with the authority. But when he avoided beating any fellow detainees, he was, in turn, ruthlessly beaten by the army.

Life in detention in Damphu was filled with constant fear and anxiety. We continued to be fed with the most unhygienic, unhealthy and inedible food, which was given twice a day – once at 11am and other at 5pm. The stinking smell coming out of stools and urine from the tin container provided in the room was the most depressing thing. Many detainees regularly suffered from severe diarrhea and blood dysentery. We were never allowed to bathe or trim our hair or nails. During my four months in detention in Damphu, I was called by Major Daphu three times to his office to provide a statement. However, at the end of every month Chhimi came and made the army beat everyone severely.