By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, January 6 – Tibetans fleeing their homeland to begin a new life abroad are finding their flight getting a little easier thanks to the Indian government.
Since February 2002, the Indian mission here has been issuing them special entry permits to travel to India from Nepal. Though relations between Beijing and New Delhi have been improving, India continues to provide travel documents to Tibetan refugees in Nepal on humanitarian grounds.
This also helps to regularise and monitor the flow of escapees who would otherwise continue to reach India illegally.
Once they reach Nepal, the refugees contact the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that in turn refers them to the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu. The centre forwards the refugees’ applications to the Indian embassy.
Currently, the embassy has been issuing 15 special entry permits a day, on an average.
Each year, 1,800 to 3,000 Tibetans flee from Tibet, the majority of them heading for Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh where the Dalai Lama has his government-in-exile.
Reaching Nepal itself is a hazardous task for the fleeing groups. They face capture by Chinese border patrols and in Nepal the government has on two occasions deported two batches of refugees, including women and children.
There have also been at least two incidents of Nepalese police firing on the refugees, killing one person.
China doesn’t recognise the refugees. Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Sun Heping says there are no refugees, “only illegal immigrants”.
There have been instances of the Nepalese government cracking down on Tibetan celebrations, like the observance of the Dalai Lama’s birthday, supposedly at the behest of the Chinese government.
There were also reports about China trying to close down the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre, a move thwarted by the UNHCR.
Indian embassy officials said they were not governed by Chinese or Nepalese reactions while issuing the entry permits. “The Indian government has issued certain specifications and we issue documents to applicants who meet them,” they said.
