By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu, November 29- The Immigration Department of Nepal today send an official to escort another group of 13 newly arrived Tibetan men to the Nepal-India border this month indicating that with the political change in Nepal, their tolerance and facility towards newly arriving Tibetan refugee asylum seekers might have improved. The group of 13 men, all from Jomda County of Chamdo Prefecture in Tibet and aged from 15-20 except for one man of 42 years of age were arrested by Nepal Police in Sindhupalchowk on November 25th.
One of the members said that they were abandoned by their guide somewhere in Helambu area of Nepal, the group lost their way and could not find the right trail to Kathmandu, in the process of finding their way to Kathmandu, they reached a village where they were allegedly beaten up by over 100 locals suspecting them as members of a gang involved in human trafficking, later some elders from another village showed up and recognized them as Tibetan refugees, they were given food, shelter and medical assistance and later handed over to Police, two of the men sustained injuries on their head and leg respectively while trying to escape stoning by locals who chased them with sticks, sickle and machetes, however, no one was injured seriously. The group was then handed over to Immigration Office in Tatopani from where they were sent to the Immigration Office in Kathmandu but since it was a holiday, they were accommodated at the Tibetan Refugee Transit Center like other newly arrived Tibetans. After completing proper interrogation and investigation, the Immigration Department of Nepal again provided them a swift transit facility without any penalty. On 21st November, the Immigration Department facilitated another group of 4 Tibetans for transit to India. Mr. Kelsang Chung, the director of the Tibetan Refugee Center also acknowledged that the situation for newly arriving Tibetans have indeed improved but he could not tell the reason exactly.
Normally, in the past any newly arrived Tibetans who were arrested by Nepal Immigration were detained and released only after receiving heavy penalties. This is the second time this month that the Immigration Department of Nepal provided such a swift transit facility to newly arriving Tibetans from Tibet and that too without any penalty. We could probably assume that the tolerance of Nepal Government towards Tibetan people is improving and that is a good news for all Tibetans in Nepal.
The Government of Nepal has neither acceded to the 1951 Convention / 1967
Protocol nor adopted national refugee legislation. Refugee rights are governed by the Aliens Act and administrative directives that are caseload-specific and incomplete.
Those Tibetans who arrived after 1990 are not accepted by Nepal and all new arrivals are permitted to remain in Nepal only for the transit period. Normally, all newly arrived Tibetans from Tibet have to stay at the Tibetan Reception Center for sometime from where their travel to India are processed with the help of UNHCR and permission from Nepal Government and Embassy of India.
With the Comprehensive National Peace Treaty signed and a new Nepal Government in the offing, the above facility might indicate that the new Nepal Government would adopt a more tolerant approach to Tibetans in Nepal and Tibetan refugees might get support to pending Tibetan issues in Nepal like registration of the Tibetan Welfare Office, child birth registration, travel document etc.
