Buddhists living in fear in Buddha’s birthplace

[WhiteTara]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Buddhists-living-in-fear-in-Buddhas-birthplace/articleshow/9507026.cms

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Buddhist community reacted with concern and indignation at the arrest of the Dalai Lama's envoy in Nepal, saying they were living in fear in Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha.

Though Thiley Lama, volunteer coordinator of the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office (TRWO) in Kathmandu, once part of the office of the Dalai Lama in Nepal, was released on Friday night after interrogation and detention for eight hours and made to sign an undertaking, the release has brought little cheer to the community, especially Tibetan Buddhists.

There are fears that the communist-led government of Nepal will tighten the screws on the TRWO, which remains vulnerable, especially after the government refusing to have it registered. Police officers asked Lama to get the organisation registered when the fact remains that it was shut down, under Chinese pressure, in 2005.

snip

China's growing clout in Nepal was evident once again this week after a controversial organisation, the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, calling itself a Hong Kong-based body with Chinese government support, claimed it had signed a $3 billion deal to develop Lumbini but the Nepal government had no knowledge of it. When Nepal's culture secretary Modraj Dotel protested against the announcement, saying Nepal would not allow a plan made without the host country's consent, he was made to resign by the communist culture minister.

Here's the story from another angle from the same paper

Nepal arrests Dalai Lama's new envoy in Nepal
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Nepal-arrests-Dalai-Lamas-new-envoy-in-Nepal/articleshow/9494185.cms

KATHMANDU: Ahead of the swearing in of the new prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamshala, police on Friday arrested the new representative of the Dalai Lama in Nepal for holding a press conference though it had no political overtones, simply seeking to urge for the protection of refugee rights and clarify matters.

Thiley Lama, volunteer coordinator of the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office, was picked up for interrogation by police on Friday along with an aide, Jhampa Dhundup, soon after he had concluded his maiden press at a hotel in the capital.

The 55-year-old's arrest comes after Nepal's new communist-headed government began an unprecedented crackdown on Tibetans in the republic under pressure from the Chinese government, preventing even traditional rites observed by the community on the birthdays of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama.

Thiley, who had clarified that his office was apolitical and was not against any "person, society or state", had asked Nepal's government to address the issues of all refugees uniformly in the new constitution and to allow the Tibetan diaspora to run businesses and obtain higher education. He had also asked the government to resume issuing the identity cards to Tibetans, acknowledging them as refugees with the right to stay in Nepal. Nepal stopped issuing the documents after 1998 due to Beijing's anger.

snip

Despite the press conference being low-key, the dragon was bound to be stung by Thiley's reference to four treaties signed between Nepal and Tibet as two sovereign countries in 1645, 1789, 1792 and 1856. It is also bound to be angered by Thiley saying that on the basis of amicable relations with Tibet, earlier Nepali governments had given sanctuary to Tibetans forced to leave their countries as "political refugees". China says there are no Tibetan refugees, only illegal immigrants.

Everywhere oppression.

[Odin2005]

1. This is why I hate Maoists. These fuckers give the rest of us Socialists a bad name.

[Gman]

2. yup, always have