By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
On 20th October 2006, a young Tibetan man from Boudha area was punished with 17,000 Nepali Rupees by the Immigration Department of Nepal for staying illegally in Nepal without passport or any valid official residential permit. But since he could not pay that money, he was sent to prison and currently he is serving his prison term, that is Nepali Rupees 25 per day, literally he has to serve 680 days of prison term unless he is able to pay the fine. After he completes his term, the Immigration Department would most probably deport him back to India where he came from.
There are approximately over 20,000 Tibetans living in Nepal but according to Nepal Government there are only about 14,000 Tibetans living in Nepal officially that means that they all have RC (Refugee Identity Card) issued by Nepal Government. So approximately there are more than 6,000 Tibetans living in Nepal without RC, however, if we try to categorize them then there are three categories, Tibetans who are genuinely Tibetan refugees without RC or any legal official identity card, Tibetans who have Nepali or Indian Citizenship Card obtained legally or illegally and Tibetans who have recently arrived from Tibet some of whom might have Chinese passport. Among them, those without RC and recently arrived Tibetans usually don’t face much problem if they live humbly and go about normally but if they fall into any local brawl knowingly or unknowingly or try to travel between India and Nepal and police or army gets involved accidentally or purposely then they are in big trouble. What they do? Usually people pay money and get away but if you don’t have money then you would be send to prison without any question. And some were even deported to India even after paying fine. This year alone I personally reported about two such cases where Tibetans were arrested for traveling illegally and send back to India and we could speculate how many such cases go unheard.
It is time for Tibetan authorities to really look into these matters of importance to Tibetan society and try to find a solution. The US resettlement is a potential solution but it might not be a total solution as there still might be many Tibetans in Nepal left without proper official residential permit. Below is such a classic problem faced by a Tibetan living in Nepal and it needs attention of concerned authorities.
Tsering Wangchen, 25 years of age originally escaped from Dritö County of Yushu Prefecture in Tibet to Nepal in February 2006 and went to India to seek refuge and education in India but due to his bad luck he could not adjust to Indian weather and became sick and he decided to return home in Tibet and came back to Nepal three months back; he has been trying to go home but did not had enough money to pay for guide who would take him back to Tibet via a mountain route and so he was staying in Boudha area in a rented house and preparing for his return. But two months back he was arrested by Police Post of Boudha area of Kathmandu for allegedly stealing a mobile phone and committing public offense by resisting to co-operate and showing knife to on duty police officers while being drunk. According to Tsering Wangchen, he did not steal any mobile phone but the neighbor lady accused him of stealing her mobile phone and called police to interrogate, he was little drunk and so police started kicking him randomly even though he pleaded many times and so he lost his temper and show a knife to the officers and then an officer hit him with a rifle butt on back of his head and he was unconscious; the next time he opened his eyes he was detained in Boudha Police Post where he was detained for about one month and then send to Central Jail at Sundhara in Kathmandu where he was detained again for one month and in total he was detained for about two months and then send to the Immigration Department because he does not have any residential permit document and therefore living in Nepal illegally. And so the Immigration Department imposed a fine on him but since he could not pay the fine, he was send to prison and currently he is serving his prison term probably at the Detention Center in Dilli Bazaar area of Kathmandu and probably waiting for some Tibetan to help him out.
