Author:
Publication: MSN.co.in
Date: August 4, 2007
URL: http://content.msn.co.in/News/International/InternationalIANS_040807_1543.htm
Nepal's new multi-party government, which
came to power pledging to improve the kingdom's tarnished human rights record,
has handed over a Tibetan refugee to China, reviving memories of a similar
incident in 2003 that triggered condemnation worldwide.
As China began wooing the eight-party government
of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala with the offer of increased economic
assistance and a line of credit worth billions, Nepal secretly handed over
to the Chinese authorities a young Tibetan refugee who had been living in
exile in India, in contravention of the international refugee law.
Tsering Wangchen, a 25-year-old from Amdo
province of Tibet, managed to escape to India via Nepal in February 2006.
However, luck deserted him when he tried to return to Tibet the same year
following the same route.
Wangchen was arrested in Nepal under suspicion
of theft and fined Nepali Rs.10,000 ($150).
As Wangchen couldn't pay the fine, he was
jailed. When the jail term was over, he was handed over to the immigration
authorities. When they found he did not have legal papers, he was further
fined Rs.17,000. He was again jailed when he did not have the money.
Though a relative finally paid the fine, Nepal's
home ministry handed Wangchen over to Chinese officials and police on the
Friendship Bridge, which marks the border between Nepal and Tibet, on July
16.
The incident, conducted clandestinely, came
to light after the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) released a letter
by Nepal's home ministry late Friday.
The letter, from the immigration department
of the home ministry, to the Tatopani immigration office in Sindupalchok district
of Nepal near the border, says: "The decision has been reached that Tsering
Wangchen, an ethnic Tibetan, should be deported from Nepal and not allowed
to enter Nepal for three years... he must be deported from the Tatopani border
from Nepal on July 16, 2007."
ICT said eyewitnesses informed it that Wangchen
initially refused to get into the immigration department's vehicle (to take
him to the border) because he sensed he was going to be deported to China.
However, he was lulled by assurances by the
immigration officers who told him that he would be sent to India.
Nepal's immigration officials also reportedly
deceived the Tibetan Refugee Reception Center in Kathmandu, with assurances
that Wangchen would be released into their care.
In May 31, 2003, Nepal had similarly deported
18 Tibetan refugees, including 10 children, to China when Kathmandu was close
to Beijing due to the influence exerted by King Gyanendra.
China supported the king's coup in 2005 after
he had influenced the Nepal government to shut down the office of the representative
of the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu.
The deportation triggered widespread condemnation,
and the US Congress withdrew a bill that would have given Nepal duty-free
and quota-free access to US markets for two years.
Though King Gyanendra's regime collapsed last
year, the new government that came to power continues to cosy up to China,
overlooking Beijing's sale of arms to the royal regime to prop it up.
