Nepal warns Tibetan exiles about anti-China protests

Jul 6, 2009, 4:26 GMT

   Kathmandu - The Nepalese government has warned Tibetan exiles in the country that they face stringent action if they go ahead with new anti-China protests, official said Monday.

   The warning came amid media reports that the Tibetan refugees were planning anti-China demonstrations in the north-western Nepalese district of Mustang, close to the border with Tibet.

   'Any activity undermining the friendship between Nepal and China would not be allowed and those involved in such activities would be subjected to action as per the existing laws,' the Nepalese Home Ministry said in a statement.

   The ministry said it was concerned over reports that anti-China protests were planned but said Nepal remained steadfast in its one China policy.

   It also called on the people not to engage in such protests.

   On Sunday, a Nepalese newspaper reported hundreds of Tibetan refugees were gathering in Mustang district to hold demonstrations coinciding with the 74th birthday of the Dalai Lama.

   According to the Kantipur newspaper, the protests were planned in Mustang, which geographically lies on the Tibetan plateau, because of a crackdown on demonstrations in the capital Kathmandu last year.

   Last month Nepalese police arrested nearly 40 Tibetan demonstrators trying to cross into the Tibetan border town of Khasa from Nepal.

   The protest was the first in nearly a year by Tibetan refugees who suspended their campaign after the Maoist-led government took office in August 2008.

   There is also growing controversy in Nepal over a meeting between a group of Nepalese lawmakers with the Dalai Lama recently.

   'The Foreign Ministry did not know about the meetings between six Nepalese lawmakers and the Dalai Lama,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Madan Bhattarai told the Kantipur newspaper.

   'The meeting was politically incorrect and the ministry strongly objects to such meetings.'

   Last year, Tibetan exiles in Nepal held almost daily protests in Kathmandu around the Chinese consular office and the United Nations office to protest the violence in Lhasa.

   Nepal has more than 20,000 Tibetan refugees concentrated mainly in the Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara in western Nepal.

   The figure does not include Tibetans who arrived in the country after 1990 because the Nepalese government stopped registering them as refugees.

   International human rights organizations say an estimated 3,000 Tibetans arrive in Nepal each year, crossing dangerous mountain passes and risking their lives to flee Chinese rule.