Nepal: The Stakes have been Raised for Anti-China Protestors

APRIL 22, 2008

For the last six weeks, pro-Tibetan demonstrators in Nepal have risked injury and arrest from armed police in order to protest China’s rule in Tibet. But now protestors could pay with a much higher price — their lives.


25 police and soldiers, all trained mountaineers, have already reached Everest's Camp II, situated at 6,500 meters (21,300 feet) above sea level. The Nepali troops will be tasked with keeping mountaineers from scaling the Nepal side of the mountain while a Chinese team is on the north side, which is closed off altogether to private expeditions. Video cameras have also been banned from Everest base camp and officials said additional security had been deployed there and on the approach trail. The Nepali troops have been ordered to open fire, if necessary, to prevent disruption of the Olympic Torch Relay by China.

A Chinese team plans to take the torch to the top of Everest, which straddles the border between Nepal and (Chinese-controlled) Tibet. The ascent is planned some time between May 1 and May 10.

"Acting upon concerns of the Chinese government towards ensuring safe passage of the torch, 25 army and police personnel have reached Camp 2 to prevent any activities against China," said Home Ministry spokesman Mod Raj Dotel. "If the security personnel felt pressure to control any untoward incident, we have made arrangement to deploy additional forces during the Olympic torch run," Dotel added. "Nepal will not allow any such activities inside its territory."


For the past 6 weeks Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu have staged regular protests against Chinese rule in Tibet and each time police have broken up the demonstrations by arresting scores of people and often using batons to beat them. According to Human Rights Watch, the police have mistreated record numbers of Tibetans in direct violation of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

On April 15, the first day that the protests resumed after Nepal’s national elections, 125 Tibetans were detained. The next day, 112 Tibetans were detained. On April 17, 504 Tibetans were detained during protests in front of the Chinese Embassy in Balawatar. On April 19, 117 people were arrested including two Tibetan journalists covering the demonstration: Tenzin Choephel and Thupten Shastri.

What’s interesting is that Nepali Police specifically identified Tenzin and Thupten for arrest from a group of five Tibetan journalists at the same location. I regard Tenzin Choephel as a colleague. We were on an Aljazeera TV program together in January. Given the targeted nature of Choephel’s arrest, it is obviously an intimidation tactic aimed at silencing him.

Human Rights Watch has observed Nepali police using unnecessary and excessive force during arrests and ill treatment during detention, including beatings and sexual misconduct toward Tibetan women. The rights group noted that the police have arrested over 2500 Tibetan protestors in the past six weeks

Nepal, which after India is home to the second-largest community of exiled Tibetans, has long provided some security to Tibetans seeking refuge from religious, political, and cultural persecution in Tibet, but in recent years has come under increasing Chinese pressure to halt what are perceived to be "anti-China" activities. Successive Nepali governments have silenced such dissent in blatant contravention of their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the rights of expression, assembly, and association to all people in a country regardless of their status. Although Nepal is not a party to the Refugee Convention, customary international law requires that individuals not be forced to return to countries where they face a well-founded fear of persecution.

But the demonstrations continue unabated. On April 21, 139 people were arrested after demonstrating on the street leading to the UN office. Two women sustained injuries by baton-wielding police.

On April 22, another 100-plus protesters were detained after authorities used bamboo batons to break up a rally. According to an AFP reporter, the police first gave chase, and then hit Tibetans with lathis, while kicking and punching others. The police didn’t deny that they had struck demonstrators with bamboo batons. Monks and nuns were among those arrested.