By Robbie Barnett
Kathmandu, July 19 – Nepalese immigration authorities are currently refusing to issue transit permits for a group of Tibetan refugees to travel to India. Of the hundred or so new arrivals now at the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu , 39 have completed all the normal required procedures but are still not being allowed to leave for India for no apparent reason..
The 39 boarded a chartered bus to go to India on Friday 11th July but at the last minute, the Immigration Director refused to sign the transit permit without which the refugees are not allowed to cross the Nepal-India border. Again on 14th and 15th July, permission was turned down by the same authorities, again without any evident reason.
This repeated denial of permission has not happened before.
On 17th July, Immigration said that they had forwarded the files to the Home Ministry for approval, and that they had received no response. The Home Ministry is not known to have been consulted in the past concerning such permits.
A member of the TRRC staff said “The Director of Immigration refused to sign the papers for the third time and simply said that the case is still pending. I don’t understand what he means by that.” All the normal procedures have already been completed and the Director’s signature is normally considered a formality in such circumstances.
The UNHCR branch in Kathmandu is believed to have contacted Immigration and also to have been told only that the case is “pending”.
(TSG)
