By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, June 24: A group of visiting Nepali Parliamentary members are pledging to speak for Tibet and the plight of Tibetan refugees in Nepal after they return to their country at the end of their three-day visit here.

It is a rare and first such visit to Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibet's Government in exile in north India, by a delegation of MPs from Nepal, a country that readily succumbs to Chinese pressure over Tibet issue.

“Nepal and Tibet shares historic relationship and we are here in Dharamsala to reinforce our relations again,” says Siddharth Gautam, President of the Lumbini Foundation for Development & Peace (LFDP) and the delegation leader of the visiting MPs.

“Lumbini Foundation partly works as a friend of Tibet in Nepal by supporting Tibetans in their struggle to seek freedom and rights in their own country,” Gautam adds.

According to Gautam, the Nepali MPs are currently visiting Dharamsala to have “a deeper understanding of Tibetan issue and situation, and to pave ways to bridge closer relations between the two communities” in the long run.

The unofficial delegation comprises six MPs, including two women, representing Dalit Janjati Party, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF) and Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) and Federal Democratic National Party (FDNP).

“No other country in the world had developed such close and neighbourly ties with Tibet as Nepal did in the past,” says Biswendra Paswan, President of the Dalit Janjati Party. “People of Tibet and Nepal shared strong historical, cultural, and trade relations for centuries, and the unique bond of relations that exists so naturally today between the two communities is the legacy of our past,” he adds.

Paswan says the three-day visit to Dharamsala has been an eye-opening experience for the MPs in understanding the exile Tibetan community, the administrative functioning of the Tibetan government and, their struggle for rights and freedom in their home country.

During the visit, the MPs toured the Tibetan Government complex and various cultural and education institutions in and around Dharamsala. They also had a private audience with the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and are scheduled to meet His Holiness the 17th Karmapa later.

The MPs say they are now determined to work for ways to ease situation for Tibetan refugees in Nepal that has deteriorated dramatically in recent times.

Nepal had come under intense international criticism last year for its brutal handling of Tibetan protesters, and the government was accused of cracking down on the refugees under Chinese pressure. It also closed down a representative office of the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu that administers the affairs of the Tibetan people in Nepal.

Tibetans in Nepal staged some of the most sustained and regular anti-China protests in Kathmandu last year after unrest against Chinese rule in Tibet faced brutal Chinese military crackdown.

Tibetan demonstrations were routinely stopped by Nepali police, often using excessive force. The demonstrators regularly faced arrests, intimidation and in some cases individual threats and arbitrary detention.

In the midst of protests, a flurry of high-level visits by Chinese officials, including a delegation led by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, repeatedly asked Nepal to effectively curb "Free-Tibet activities” while promising to increase assistance to the crisis-stricken country in return.

“In recent times, Nepal government has apparently acted in tune with diplomatic pressure from Chinese government that shows little concern for human rights and democracy,” Paswan said.

“When we go back to Nepal, we will initiate joint-efforts and lobby in the parliament to help ease situation for Tibetans living in Nepal,” he said. We will ask the government through proper channel to reopen the Office of Tibet and also to start issuing refugee registration card (RC) for Tibetans in Nepal,” Paswan added.

Paswan said the new efforts to support Tibetans will also include lobbying for inclusion of such provisions in Nepal’s new constitution, which is currently under drafting process, to ensure “legal status and social justice for Tibetans and other refugees” in the small Himalayan state. “We will also ask for such provisions that can effectively help check Nepali security forces and government agencies from acting arbitrarily against Tibetans or others during peaceful demonstrations,” Paswan said.

“At community level, there is no problem between the two communities. Nepali people treat Tibetans as their own relatives and we live together harmoniously,” Gautam of Lumbini Foundation adds.

More than 20,000 Tibetans have settled in Nepal since the Chinese invasion in 1959. Estimates suggest between 2,500 and 3,000 Tibetans escape Tibet and enter Nepal each year after a perilous journey over the Himalayas on their way to Dharamsala.

Gautam said his foundation had also been working to realize a “long-awaited visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama” to Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha in Nepal.

Describing Nepalese as “peace-loving people”, Gautam said they would never appreciate China’s wrongdoings in Tibet.

“We are opposed to oppressive rule by China. Our solidarity and support will always remain with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and people of Tibet,” Gautam said.

Tseten Norbu, a member of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile based in Nepal, has coordinated the MPs' visit to Dharamsala.

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