By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent in Kathmandu
A group of 40 Tibetan asylum seekers boarded a bus from the Tibetan Refugee Transit Center in Kathmandu bound for New Delhi. The Department of Immigration, Government of Nepal today finally resumed issuing ‘Exit Permit’ for newly arrived Tibetan refugees from Tibet after about nine months. An officer from the Nepalese Department of Immigration was sent to escort the bus to the Indo-Nepal border of Sunauli.
According to an official of the Transit Center, “Although, during that period (when permits were not issued) some asylum seekers had been exiting Nepal without necessary documents, it was a big problem for the Transit Center to accommodate, feed and arrange their journey to India. We are relieved that the Nepal Government has resumed issuing ‘Exit Permit’, the journey of these newly arrived Tibetans to India would be now more safer”.
The Nepal Government led by King Gyanendra had stopped issuing ‘Exit Permit’ for Tibetan refugees in October 2005. The Kathmandu Post daily had in March reported that the Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to give any comment but a government official admitted that it was a ‘political’ decision. The United States had expressed their concern and support and the UNHCR has been requesting the Nepal Government to resume issuing Exit Permit for sometime. After the change of government in Nepal, the new government last month agreed to issue ‘Exit Permit’ for newly arrived Tibetan refugees and ‘Travel Document’ for Tibetans living in Nepal wanting to travel abroad. Information about the resumption of issuing ‘Travel Document’ is not yet known.
The majority of these Tibetans are young people seeking education in India. There are still more than 70 Tibetan refugees left at the Transit Center; another group would be sent next week. The Tibetan Refugee Transit Center is located in Ichangu, Kathmandu; it is supported by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and administered by Lutherin World Foundation (an American NGO) and staffed by Tibetans.
