By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 17: The Tibetans who were arrested by the Nepalese police on Nov. 14 have been released on Wednesday evening, after two days in detention although two Tibetans who possessed Indian identification document are still held back while their documents are being verified, sources said.
Out of the 41 arrested on Monday at Dhanghadi town near the Indian border, 39 from Tibet have been released after their Chinese passports were verified by authorities in Kathmandu. Sources say that Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON) negotiated with authorities for the release.
The 41 Tibetans travelling in privately operated bus was stopped by Nepalese police and detained for not having valid travel documents for India where, authorities said, they were headed. After the arrest, the Kailali District police handed over the detainees to the Department of Immigration, Kathmandu around on Nov. 15 following which 24 male detainees were locked up in Dilli Bazaar jail in the capital and 17 women were held at the department of immigration.
It remains unlikely that the 39 Tibetans who are from Kham and Amdo regions of Tibet will travel to India with a valid visa since visits to India where bulk of the exile Tibetan community and the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama are based, might lead to their prosecution from Chinese authorities after their return to Tibet. In the past many Tibetans who were found to have visited India have been arrested and subjected to punishment by China.
With recent reports of Chinese authorities in Tibet confiscating passports of Tibetans and recalling those already in Nepal, Chinese authorities are poised to restrict Tibetans from inside Tibet to attend the foremost Buddhist teachings of the Kalachakra to be given by the Dalai Lama in over a month’s time in Bodhgaya, India.
