US raises Tibetan issue with Prime Minister

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Visiting US under secretary of state Maria Otero today raised the Tibetan refugee issue with Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal and urged him to follow the international practice of providing safe transit for trans-country refugees.

Otero also raised the problem of refugee identification in Nepal as they have been taking refuge here since mainland China invaded Tibet in 1959.

“She expressed concern about the Nepal government policy with regard to Tibetan refugees arriving in the country as well as identification of refugees who have been living in Nepal for decades,” The prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser Milan Tuladhar said.

Otero, who is the US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, had visited the Tibetan Refugee Transit Centre in Kathmandu on Sunday with the American Ambassador to Nepal, Scott H DeLisi to talk with Tibetan refugees, some of whom are awaiting clearance of passage to Dharmashala of India, where their spiritual leader Dalai Lama operates the Tibetan government in exile.

Sources said the refugees spoke to American officials about their vulnerability, including Nepal government’s increasingly assertive policy towards the issue of their transit to Dharmashala, upon China’s request.

PM Khanal responded to Otero saying that the Government of Nepal has been treating Tibetan refugees as per universal law and obligations, stating it was a very ‘sensitive’ issue for Nepal. “The PM did not make any commitment on the issue,” Tuladhar said.

During the half-hour-long meeting, the issue of Bhutanese refugees also figured. PM Khanal stated that Nepal stands by the choice of Bhutanese people to return to their home. Otero had discussed the issue with Indian and Bhutanese authorities just before arriving in Kathmandu on Saturday.

“We believe that the Bhutanese refugees deserve the right to return to their motherland,” Tuladhar quoted the prime minister. Otero advised him that resumption of dialogue wih Bhutanese authorities would be better to address the issue permanently.

Nepal is home to some 20,000 Tibetan and over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees. But, more than 40,000 Bhutanese refugees have already adopted the US and seven other first world countries as home as per the UN third country resettlement plan.

Asked whether she raised the issue of refugees in Nepal, Otero said, “It is an important issue for us. We believe we will proceed to look at it carefully.” She said America will be a “strong partner and supporter” in Nepal’s peace and constitution drafting process.