Nepal arrests 3 fleeing Tibetans

Dharamsala, January 17 - Police in Nepal's Gorkha district have arrested 3 Tibetans for trying to flee Tibet via Tibet's border with Nepal. The 3 were arrested from Ghattekhola, Sirdibas on Saturday around midnight. 

Police said they arrested the three as no documents of travel were found on the three. Police said they had arrested the 3 Tibetans after local tipped them of the presence of the Tibetans in the area. 

The identities of the trio are yet to be established due to the language barrier, said the police who added they the 3 had embarked from Lhasa. 

The 3 were handed over to the Machakhola office on Sunday. The District police will present them in three days before the the Department of Immigration for further investigation, said DSP Gorakh Singh Bhandari. 

Nepal and China last November agreed as part of a 13-point agreement to step up security in their border areas to prevent entry of Tibetans into Nepal. Both sides during a meeting of high-level officials from the two sides decided to “tighten the entry of Tibetan nationals into Nepal and systematise the distribution of temporary entry cards”.

Every year several thousand Tibetans - including monks, nuns and children - escape from Tibet, traveling through treacherous Nepalese terrain to reach India. Acting under heavy Chinese influence, the Nepalese government has over intensified its security to prevent Tibetan activists from taking part in peaceful demonstrations.

According to media reports from Nepal, China has lately asked Nepal to deploy around 10,000 security personnel along the Sino-Nepal border to guard against fleeing Tibetans and infiltration into Tibet, according to security sources. Beijing had also assured all possible assistance needed to make the arrangements.

Earlier last year, in a bid to check anti-Beijing activities in Nepal, China provided a two-week special training in Beijing for Nepalese police and top administrative officials. Officials from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force (APF) from the areas bordering Tibet took part in the training.

In October last year, under orders from Nepal's home ministry Nepali police to disrupted the Tibetan preliminary elections.

Nepal, which relies heavily on China for assistance, supports ‘one-China policy’ that views Tibet as an integral part of China. Nepal has traditionally given safe passage to fleeing Tibetan refugees under an informal agreement between the government and the UN refugee agency.