KATHMANDU: An offer by the United States to resettle tens of thousands of Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal has raised many hopes but the gesture has also sparked tension in the camps, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

Refugees who insist on repatriation as the only acceptable solution have been threatening and intimidating those who voice support for resettlement in the United States, the New York-based group said in a report.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Nepalis were expelled or fled from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan in 1991, and around 106,000 live in poverty and exile in crowded camps in eastern Nepal, roughly one-sixth of Bhutan’s population.

Last year, Washington offered to take 60,000 refugees from the camps in a move that has divided the exiled population. “Refugees fundamentally have the right to return to a country that expelled them,” said Bill Frelick, the group’s refugee policy director.

“While repatriation would be the best option for most refugees, it can only be viable if Bhutan upholds its duty to guarantee the returnees’ human rights,” Frelick said. Bhutan’s government also says it fears being swamped by a growing population of illegal immigrants, mindful of the way ethnic Nepalis helped overthrow the Buddhist rulers of neighbouring Sikkim, annexed by India in 1975.—Reuters