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Five Tibetan pilgrims arrested in Nepal

Nepalese police arrest a Tibetan protesting against a visiting Chinese delegation in Kathmandu on 2 September 2009. Five Tibetans, who had fled from Tibet to India via Nepal to hear the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Bodh Gaya last month, had been arrested by Nepalese police on 4 February when they were found to be without any travel documents.File photo/AFP/Getty Images/Prakash Mathema/Nepal

Five Tibetans, who are suspected to have fled from Tibet to India via Nepal to hear their spiritual master, the Dalai Lama, pray for world peace, now face harsh prison terms after being arrested by Nepal Police.

The Kathmandu police on Saturday said they had arrested five Tibetans, including a woman, from the Boudhanath area in the capital, a religious landmark noted for the concentration of Buddhist monasteries and the Boudhanath Stupa, one of the largest and holiest Tibetan Buddhist shrines.

The four men have been identified as Sonam Tharchen, 35; Lobsang Tashi, 22; Lobsang Tsondru, 27; Rigzin, 24; and the lone woman as Tsering Dolma. Police told TNN they were arrested from three hotels in the Boudhanath area during raids on Thursday night when they were found to be without any travel documents.

The group is believed to have gone to Bodh Gaya, where the Dalai Lama gave a five-day discourse last month, that was also attended by Hollywood star and ardent Buddhist Richard Gere. The detainees were handed over to the immigration authorities on Friday and now face either deportation to Tibet or India or imprisonment in Nepal till they are able to pay for a Nepal visa as well as fines.

Nepal has begun a fresh crackdown on its resident Tibetan community ahead of the Tibetan New Year, starting from 14 February, when fresh protests against the Chinese annexation of Tibet and display of allegiance to their exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama are expected.

Nepal’s Home Minister Bhim Rawal left for Lhasa Saturday to hold talks with the Chinese authorities on curbing “crimes” along the border Nepal shares with Tibet to its north. China is excessively zealous to prevent protests by Tibetans to prevent a repeat of the continuous street demonstrations in 2008 that embarrassed and angered Beijing before the world while it was hosting the Olympic Games.

Rawal’s week-long China visit could be a reason for Nepal asking Pakistan to postpone the meeting of the SAARC home ministers, which was to have been held in Islamabad on 26-27 February.

Copyright © 2010 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

Published in The Times of India