Poreg View: In yet another manifestation of the influence of Beijing over Kathmandu’s Maoist dominated political establishment, the police on Friday, August 5, arrested the new representative of the Dalai Lama in Nepal. He was released after an eight hour long detention.
His offence: Holding a press conference that had no political overtones. The presser, described in media dispatches as a ‘low-key’ and ‘somber’ held in a hotel simply to urge the protection of refugee rights.
Thiley Lama, (55), was picked up along with an aide, Jhampa Dhundup, soon after he had concluded his maiden press conference at a hotel. He is the first Nepali to head (Volunteer Coordinator is the official designation) the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office (TRWO), which was earlier a part of the office of the Dalai Lama in Nepal. (Some despatches identified the Lama as Thinley Gyatso; he was born on the 18th of March, 1975, in the village of Mugu in far northwestern Nepal. His parents named him Torchi Lama).
He got back his ‘freedom’ after he agreed to register his office as an NGO. He also signed an undertaking that he would inform the local administration before organizing a press meet or any other programme.
Nepal has been witnessing an unprecedented crackdown on Tibetans ever since Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal’s government came to office with the Maoists as the backseat drivers. The authorities are said to prevent Tibetans from observing even traditional rites on the birthdays of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama.
Yang Houlan, who arrived in Kathmandu, as the new Chinese envoy last month (July, 2011), has been unusually pro-active to increase China’s footprint in Nepal. He has been reminding Prime Minister Khanal and the leaders of all political parties of Nepal’s commitment not to allow any anti-China activity on its soil.
So Thiley’s arrest doesn’t come as a surprise. On his part, he had taken care to highlight the fact that his office is ‘apolitical’ and that it is not against any ‘person, society or state’. He asked the Nepalese government to address the issues of all refugees uniformly in the new Nepalese constitution that is in the making. He also wanted the government to ‘allow the Tibetan diaspora to run businesses and obtain higher education’.
In the past Nepal used to give identity cards to Tibetans. But the practice was discontinued after 1998 under Beijing’s pressure. Thiley has made a case for issuing once again these I-cards. It (grant of I-cards) will be a formal clearance for the refugees to stay in Nepal. Put differently, the I-card will be acknowledging the Tibetans as refugees with the right to stay in the country.
Yet, Thiley Lama incurred the wrath of powers that be in Kathmandu and their handlers. It is because he made references to the four treaties signed between Nepal and Tibet as two sovereign countries in 1645, 1789, 1792 and 1856. And recalled that earlier Nepali governments had given sanctuary to Tibetans forced to leave their countries as ‘political refugees’.
For China, there are no Tibetan refugees. There are only illegal Tibetan immigrants. Kathmandu has a long history of bending backward to please Beijing under whoever ruled from the Narayanhity Palace. For instance, in 2005, King Gyanendra had the office of the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu shut down to ensure Beijing’s support for his plans to seize power. His army-backed coup was short lived and it could not stall the Himalayan Kingdom’s transition to People’s Republic.
Since January this year, the border police have arrested dozens of Tibetans on charges of illegally sneaking into Nepali soil from Lamabagar of Dolakha district.
Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans. They began arriving in large numbers after the Dalai Lama fled Tibet following a failed uprising in 1959.
It will be saying the obvious that China is watching the developments at Dharmasala, which have a bearing on the mood of Tibetans everywhere.
