Kathmandu, October 6 – Less than a week after China celebrated its national day, a group of 27 Tibetans have fled the country, trying to escape to India.
The 25 men and two women crossed into northern Nepal from Tibet, and were arrested by Nepalese security forces Monday for not having valid travel documents.
Media reports Wednesday said the group, detained in the remote northern district of Solukhumbu, considered the gateway to Mt Everest, would be handed over to immigration authorities.
Moving in small groups that at times also include children, Tibetans regularly make attempts to leave their homeland and reach Dharamshala in India where their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, resides.
While the Nepalese government usually hands over Tibetans caught travelling illegally to the UN High Commission for Refugees in Kathmandu, there have been instances of the detainees being jailed till they could pay visa fees and the fine imposed on illegal travellers.
In one incident last year that triggered international outrage, the government handed over a group of refuge seekers to the Chinese authorities, reportedly after pressure exerted by Beijing, which has stepped up its assistance to Nepal.
China declines to recognise the fleeing Tibetans as refugees. The Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Sun Heping, defining his government’s stand on the issue last year, said there were no refugees, only “illegal immigrants”.
Every year, over 1,000 Tibetans cross into India through Nepal.
