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41 Tibetans detained in Nepal
41 Tibetans detained in Nepal
By Chen Heying
Source:Global Times Published: 2016/11/16 23:23:40
Far fewer asylum seekers now fleeing Tibet, officials say
A group of Tibetans attempting to flee to India via Nepal were detained Tuesday, foreign media reported, as experts said the number of asylum seekers has declined in recent years.
Nepali police detained the Tibetans as they tried to cross the border into India, Reuters reported on Tuesday. They were stopped on Monday at Dhangadi, 430 kilometers southwest of Kathmandu while traveling via bus to India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile, police officer Rajendra Bista confirmed.
There was no further information about the detention, the embassy, who refused to confirm the Reuters report, told the Global Times.
"They did not possess passports nor had they any other travel documents… We have taken them into custody and handed [them] over to immigration authorities," Bista was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Basudev Ghimire, director at the Immigration Department in Kathmandu, said the refugees, who include Buddhist nuns and monks, were being brought back to the Nepali capital, where an investigation would be conducted on how they had entered the country.
"If they are genuine refugees, they may be handed over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Otherwise they may be deported back to the country they came from," said Ghimire.
"Nepal has long been cautious about issuing Tibetans with a refugee identity card," a Beijing-based senior official in charge of ethnic and religious affairs, who asked for anonymity, told the Global Times.
Due to a lack of refugee or citizenship certificates, coupled with difficulties fitting into the local community, most Tibetans in exile are badly off in Nepal, the official noted.
According to statistics released by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, some 200,000 Tibetans live overseas, with 110,000 in India and 30,000 in Nepal. A majority fled with the Dalai Lama to India, Nepal and Bhutan after an abortive rebellion in 1959, news site tibet.cn reported.
"Besides those joining the exiled groups, most Tibetans lead a rather miserable life, doing part-time jobs for a living, since they are not allowed to purchase fixed assets or cars as refugees," Guo Kefan, researcher at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Fewer than 200 Tibetans sought refuge in Nepal in 2013, trekking for days to cross treacherous mountainous passes to reach Nepal before seeking political asylum in India - down from an annual average of 2,000 before 2008, Reuters reported.
The prosperous development in the Tibet Autonomous Region has discouraged Tibetans from fleeing to Nepal and India, Guo said, adding that China and the Tibet Autonomous Region have strengthened border patrols.
"The local government used to warn Tibetans of being barred from coming back if they manage to illegally cross the border," a Lhasa-based expert who refused to be named told the Global Times on Wednesday.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1018411.shtml
