Nepal shuts two Tibetan offices

Bad news for Tibetan refugees - they don't exist, says China:
Times Of India
KATHMANDU: In an apparent move to please China,
Nepal closed down two offices of Tibetan refugees in
the capital that worked for their welfare for nearly
five decades.

The Nepalese government has sent a letter to the
Tibetan Welfare Centre and Tibetan Refugee Welfare
Office, telling them they were not registered and would
have to suspend activities immediately.

The move comes in the wake of the Chinese government
beefing up its activities in Nepal and increasing assistance.

The two offices had been working since the late 1950s, when
the Dalai Lama fled China along with thousands of Tibetans
following China's annexation of Tibet.

China, however, refuses to acknowledge there are Tibetan
refugees. According to the Chinese ambassador to Nepal,
Sun Heping, there are no Tibetan refugees, but only "illegal
immigrants" who are liable to be punished according to the
law of the land.

The letter sent last Friday by the office of the Chief District
Officer of Kathmandu did not come as a surprise to the
Tibetan community who were anticipating such a move.

Since most of the Tibetan refugees try to escape to India via
Nepal, the two offices were used to facilitate their getting
in touch with the Kathmandu office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees.

This office took them under its aegis and helped them reach
Dharamshala, the Dalai Lama's headquarters in northern India.

The offices also looked into the problems of the nearly 20,000
Tibetan refugees living in Nepal and tried to bail  out the fleeing
refugees arrested by the Nepalese police and put behind bars.

Tibetans, not being Nepalese citizens, cannot register any
organisation on their own in Nepal, nor are they allowed to seek
employment.

The community was urging the government to allow them to
register social and economic organisations and allow them
employment opportunities.

There are thousands of non-registered organisations in Nepal,
run by both Nepalese and non-Nepalese. This is the first
instance of the government closing down one.

The government however denies it bowed to Chinese pressure.
Nepal's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan
Mahat was quoted as saying the government had asked them
to close since they were not registered.

The step comes even as India, recognising the humanitarian
aspect of the Tibetan refugee crisis, has started issuing
travel documents to Tibetans in Kathmandu to allow them to
proceed to India.