April 04, 2014 - Tibetan refugees in Nepal said Friday they were held for weeks in
police custody without charges or access to legal aid in a sign that authorities are
bowing to pressure from China. Sonam Chodon and Sonam Tashi said they were picked
up by police who broke up a small rally in front of the Chinese Embassy's visa office
on March 10, and were released only this week. They said they were held much longer
than previously in what they suspect was the result of the increasing pressure from
China on Nepal to clamp down on Tibetan protests. ``We were held without being able
to consult with lawyers. We signed papers written in language we didn't understand
and made to stamp our fingerprints in those documents,'' Chodon said in an interview
in a small rented house located at the southern edge of Katmandu, where some 1,500
Tibetans live. Police officials did not immediately answer phone calls seeking comment
Friday, but on Thursday, Nepal's Foreign Ministry issued a statement denying accusations
in a report by Human Rights Watch that the government was mistreating Tibetans. ``The
refugees resident in Nepal are enjoying rights as per the prevailing laws and they
are expected to respect the laws of the land,'' the statement said. ``Nepal has been
making it clear time and on that refugees sheltered here cannot work in contravention
of the domestic laws and the principled foreign policy path of the nation.'' Nearly
20,000 Tibetans who fled their homeland now live in Nepal. Others travel through Nepal
to India, where their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile. They often
use the treacherous mountain trails across the Himalayas to reach Nepal. In the
report earlier this week, New York-based Human Rights Watch said that China was pressuring
Nepal because it did not want the Tibetan refugees to protest Chinese rule in their
homeland. The group said Nepal continued to offer some protections to Tibetans, but
was succumbing to Chinese demands that it limit the number entering its territory.
It said the number of arrivals dropped from an annual average of 2,000 to about 200
in 2013. (Source: AP)