By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, January 5: Nepal police have barred 45 Tibetan monks from Tibet to travel to Kathmandu from Junbeshi in Solukhumbhu district, Buddhist region bordering Tibet, last week, reported the English language news portal Ekantipur.
The monks, who claimed they had been residing at Thupten Choling Monastery in Solukhumbhu, were stopped on Dec. 29 at Dudhkunda Municipality of Solukhumbhu district by the police who said they lacked valid travel papers and identity card.
Jhankanath Dhakal, Chief District Officer (CDO) of Solukhumbhu district, said the monks were prevented to travel outside of the district in view of their possible involvement in suspicious activities, without giving specific details.
Nepal has long been a transit for Tibetans fleeing repression under China with an average of 2000 Tibetans crossing the border to until 2008 when widespread protests across the Tibetan plateau was crushed by the Chinese government. The number has now dwindled with only 200 Tibetans recorded to have crossed into Nepal in 2013.
Nepal, a home for some 20000 Tibetan refugees has increasingly clamped down on the cultural and political expression of the Tibetans in the recent years.
The country’s increasing dependence on China for financial aid has meant that the freedom of Tibetan refugees has been curtailed. Also, several Tibetans caught trying to escape Tibet through Nepal have been repatriated in recent years.
