China Fails To Get Tibetan Refugees Deported From Nepal

KATHMANDU: An outcry by human rights groups and a tough ruling by Nepal's Supreme Court demolished the bid by Chinese authorities to compel Nepal's government into handing over to them a group of 23 Tibetan refugees, who had escaped from Tibet to Nepal earlier this month.

"We had been asking the government to release the 23 Tibetans who had been arrested by police," said advocate Indra Prasad Aryal, whose petition on Wednesday was the final straw that made Nepal's new Maoist government knuckle under pressure and free the detained group.

"Initially, state officials told us they would release the detainees. However, when the period of detention lengthened, we were alarmed, especially after the officials told us the Chinese authorities were asking them to deport the group. As for the refugees, they told us they faced torture if they were sent back, and possibly even hanging."

The refugees, including five women, were travelling in two different groups from Tibet with the aim of proceeding to India, where, under the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government in exile, they could be placed in appropriate religious schools or monasteries. While two members were in their 40s, 13 were between 18 and 28 years and the rest minors between 13 and 17.

The largest group of 20 fugitives was arrested in Bajura district, western Nepal, after crossing the Tibet-Nepal border in Humla district. Later, three more were arrested in Barabise, Sindupalchowk district, north-central Nepal.

Though in the past Nepal used to hand over such fugitives to the care of the UN refugee agency in Nepal, it has been increasingly under pressure from the Chinese government to crack down on them and even deport them to China. Police reportedly told the Human Rights Organisation of Nepal, the rights group Aryal is associated with, that the Chinese had asked Nepal that the issue be treated as one of trafficking and the group be handed over to the Chinese authorities.

While rights groups and western diplomats were urging the new Maoist government to free the Tibetans, the protests received a boost when Aryal filed a writ in court and the judge, Bharat Raj Upreti, ordered the government to stay the deportation till he had given his verdict.

"We had a strong case and would have won," Aryal told TNN. "We had a precedent 14 years ago when a Shia Muslim from Pakistan sought to stay his deportation, saying he would face torture if sent back. Realising its case was weak and also realising the negative international buzz it would create and affect the image of the government, the home ministry decided to release the Tibetans."

On Thursday, immigration authorities handed over the fearful group to officials of the UN refugee agency.

"Chinese authorities have taken advantage of political instability, the rise of the Maoists, and the need for resources to develop Nepal's infrastructure to gain an unprecedented leverage over Kathmandu's treatment of its long-standing Tibetan community," the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said.

"Beijing's influence over the Nepalese government, border forces, the judicial system and civil society at a time of political transition in Nepal means that Tibetans in Nepal are increasingly vulnerable, demoralized and at risk of arrest and repatriation."