DARJEELING:- An elected leader from Darjeeling has appealed to Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to pardon Nepali-speaking ‘political prisoners’. Demands have been raised again for the release of those prisoners who have been in prison for years.

Ajay Edwards, an elected member of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Assembly and President of the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front, published an open letter on social media on Wednesday. The letter was made public along with the news of the recent death of Sha Bahadur Gurung in custody.

Sha Bahadur Gurung was arrested in 1990 for participating in a protest demanding the rights of the Nepali-speaking minority community in Bhutan.  According to media reports, Gurung, who had been suffering from chronic illness, died in a prison in Bhutan on December 15, 2025, at the age of 65.

“Deaths like those of Sha Bahadur Gurung in custody should not be repeated. No family should lose a loved one, even when compassion is possible,” Edwards wrote in the letter.

GTA Assembly member Edwards said he wrote the letter “with the utmost respect, deep thought, and humility as an Indian Gurkha.” He wrote, “Bhutan is a country respected around the world for its compassion and moral leadership.” With this sentiment, I humbly appeal for mercy for Nepali-speaking political prisoners who have been in prison for decades, not because of violence, but because of their expression of dissent.

Along with his open letter, Edwards shared a news report that said Gurung spent the last 35 years of his life in Rabuna Military Prison. According to reports, at least 36 political prisoners are currently held in Rabuna and Chemgang prisons near Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu.

“Your Majesty, the constitutional right to pardon or commute a sentence lies solely with you.” “Such acts of mercy do not undermine justice, but rather strengthen the inner spirit of Bhutan and open the door to long-overdue reconciliation and healing,” Edwards wrote in the letter.

In the 1990s, more than 90,000 people from the Nepali-speaking community, known as the ‘Lhotsampa’, were forced to leave Bhutan after the Bhutanese government implemented strict citizenship laws requiring proof of residence in the country before 1958.

The refugees were initially settled in Nepal and later resettled in Western countries after international intervention. During the same period, the Bhutanese government implemented the ‘one nation, one people’ policy.

The Global Campaign for the Release of Political Prisoners in Bhutan, a human rights organization that has long campaigned for the release of political prisoners in Bhutan, has welcomed Edwards’ initiative.

Ram Karki, founder and international coordinator of GCRPPB, said that it was particularly significant to have such a statement coming from an influential Indian political leader from the neighboring region. He also noted that the widespread support for this through Indian mainstream media would put pressure on Bhutan to take action on this issue.