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Nepal adopts tough measures against Tibetans
Kosh R. Koirala
Source: Asian Tribune,5 March,2010

 Bowing down to the mounting pressure from China, Nepali authorities have adopted a policy to send Tibetans illegally entering into Nepali territory back to their homes from border point itself.

Authorities would so far hand over such Tibetans to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kathmandu.

Right activists have expressed worry over the new policy, fearing that this could make such Tibetans face severe punishment back home.

Officials said Department of Immigration (DoI) recently wrote to local administration in northern bordering districts adjoining China to keep strict vigil to Tibetans illegally entering into Nepali territory. The DoI has also asked local authorities to send those illegally sneaking into Nepal back home from the border point itself or hand them over to Chinese authorities.

The decision comes in the wake of increasing number of Tibetans illegally sneaking into Nepali territory with the objective to reach to Dharmashala, India, where their spiritual leader Dalai Lama has been taking shelter for decades.

Chinese officials in Kathmandu had recently lodged their displeasure with Nepali authorities over handling of Tibetans illegally entered into Nepal. China fears that exiled leaders could brainwash the Tibetans to create instability in the Tibetan Autonomous Region similar to the one made in Lhasa in 2008.

Nepali authorities under pressures from various western countries would so far hand over the illegally entered Tibetans to the UNHCR office in Kathmandu. Tibetans admitted to this scribe that the UNHCR officials would assist them to reach to their exiled leader in India.
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