SANJAYA LAMA/DIWAKAR PYAKUREL
The Himalayan
September 25, 2014
“I would have been very happy, had I lived in Tibet,” said Karma Sherpa in a subdued voice.
Sherpa (40), a Tibetan living as a refugee in Nepal, said that he set foot in Nepal when he was 30-year-old. He is one among thousands of Tibetan refugees living in Nepal after the Chinese Government took control over their ‘autonomous state’ with its own government.
After he entered into Nepal, he stayed in Syaphrubesi of Rasuwa for more than nine years. He has been living in Kathmandu for some months after he migrated from Rasuwa.
The “refugee” curse
“I faced lots of problems during my initial stage in Nepal,” said Sherpa, a gatekeeper by profession. He has been working as a gatekeeper in Jorpati since he is in the Capital. “I have left all my good memories back in Tibet and working tirelessly in Nepal”, he said. Sherpa, a father of three children, said that living in Nepal as a refugee is not so easy. He has two daughters and a son.
Living with the tag “refugee”, according to him, is like the curse he earned in his past life, he said scratching his head.
“This tag ‘refugee’ has been troubling me since I step in Nepal.” “It’s because we can’t walk freely,” he said. “People behave us inhumanely, and torture us over and over again calling us ‘refugee’.” “I want to go back to my country. But China doesn’t allow us to live there. China will arrest us,” he lamented.
He said his duty starts from 9:00 in the morning and ends at 5:00 in the evening. He added “the salary is not enough for us.”
“My wife works at a carpet factory to support the financial condition,” he said Life in Nepal is like hell for these refugees as Sherpa calls it. “There is no happiness and freedom but still I am compelled to live here as I can’t go back to China.”
Nevertheless, his heart tells him that one fine day will return soon where there will be happiness and peace in his life and he will get the citizenship of Nepal, he said glancing at the garden where varieties of beautiful flowers were blooming.
“I don’t have any grievances upon the Nepal Government. I just want to live my life like other people,” he said. Donned in cotton pant and a t-shirt, Sherpa said that he spends his whole day in opening and closing the door. “I don’t go anywhere during my weekly day-off. I am scared of people in Nepal.” I have been living a wretched life, said Sherpa screwing up his face.
Feared lives, confused talks
In conversation with THT Online, Sherpa once told that he has a hope that the Nepal Government will grant citizenship rights to the refugees one day. But, after some minutes, he said that he already got the citizenship last year.
Perhaps the twist of the story tells that he has been living his life in fear of attention. It seems he could not choose between claiming a refugee status and being discriminated and claiming to have a citizenship and getting deprived of the rights he is entitled as a refugee.
The innocent Sherpa man is trying to survive in the land of fear with the hope that one day the light will illuminate in the tunnel.
Almost all Tibetan refugees have a similar story like Sherpa. Tsering Dorje (name changed) said that he embarked into Nepal some 15 years ago.
Dorje who had been living in the five-storey cemented house in Jawalakhel Refugee Camp spoke in condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak to strangers.
Grants galore for no use
The house in which Dorje is living, just some metres away from the Ring Road in Jawalakhel, is constructed by the European Union.
It looks sophisticated in appearance; however the windows and doors in the ground floor are broken.
The house can accommodate around 150 persons. But, currently, its basement was all empty, except that a couple of rooms are used to dump superannuated household goods.
There is a big play ground outside the camp where children play football and other sports. The ground, all green with grasses, is surrounded by prayer flags.
Around half dozen police personnel guard the ground and the big building round the clock. A police staffer whom the THT Online talked to said the refugees living in the area are happy, but they do not talk to unknown persons, perhaps due to a fear of attention.
Like that big accommodation, most of the houses in the Jawalakhel camp are constructed by the European Union. Each of them has a sign that read “This is constructed by the European Union.”
During an observation, it has been found that most of the people who are staying in the camp are working in the same carpet factory where Dorje works.
All in hush
When the THT Online reporters met him, Dorje was carrying four jerkins in his two hands and was heading towards public spout to refill the jerkins.
When he was asked to stop awhile and talk, he immediately said with a smile, “Nepal is the country of crisis; there is always scarcity of petrol and drinking water.”
The carpet factory, where Dorje works, is operated by the Tibetans in front of the camp.
During the leisure time, the workers huddle together at the inns located outside the camp and enjoy some chitchat.
Similarly, Tashi Sherpa (named changed) was not feeling easy to talk with the reporters and engaged in his own work.
Sherpa who appeared to be in his mid-30s was grazing a dog in the ground.
Decades-long dilemma
The Tibetans started to migrate to other country searching for asylum in 1959 after the 14th Dalai Lama’s self-exile in India.
There are around 150, 000 Tibetans living in exile and most of them have been living in Nepal, India and Bhutan.
At a time when the Tibetan uprising has reached the top in 1959, Dalai Lama along with his followers fled to India for shelter.
According to a census conducted in 2009 by the Tibetan Central Administration in Dharmasala, India, there are around 3,000 Tibetan residing in Nepal. Most of the Tibetans live in Boudha, Swyombu and Jawlakhel camp.
The census further reported that Pokhara is another city where majority of the Tibetans live after Kathmandu. Few Tibetans live in Namgyaling and Mustang among others places close to the border with China.
Information published in various news magazines reveals that around 25% of Tibetans have Refugee Certificate (RC), valid ID cards that the government of Nepal once distributed to Tibetans and their offspring.
Later, the Government of Nepal halted issuing cards to the new Tibetan refugees following a diplomatic understanding with China, the northern neighbour on December 31, 1989.
However, the government has decided to provide citizenship to the children born in Nepal to Tibetan parents holding the card.
But, from 1994 to 1998, the government has again stopped issuing cards even to the children born before the 1990.
The card is an official document which grants the Tibetans to walk and reside freely in Nepal.
Some Tibetans hold the Nepali citizenship obtained by marrying with a male Nepali citizen.
The census report said that in between 1990 and 2007, approximately 40, 000 Tibetans entered Nepal through India under an informal gentleman’s agreement between Nepal and the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Human rights concerns
The Human Rights Watchdog in one of its recent reports has claimed that the Tibetan refugee has been facing ban on political protests and prohibition on public activities.
According to the 100-page report “Under China’s Shadow: Mistreatment of Tibetans in Nepal,” Nepal follows one China policy and accordingly crackdowns anti-China protests. The government considers Tibet a part of China.
The concerned authorities in Nepal have been apprehending the Tibetans who illegally enter the country and handing them over to the Chinese authority.
The rights watchdog said that following an intense pressure from the northern neighbour, the Nepal Government has imposed restrictions on Tibetan refugees residing in Nepal.
What human rights activists say
Activists working for rights of the refugees find the government treatment to Tibetans ‘discriminatory’. “Tibetan and Bhutanese refusees are treated very discriminately by the Government of Nepal,” Charan Prasain, a human rights activist says.
Prasain argues that Tibetan refugees living in Nepal are deprived of basic human rights including right to free movement, right to expression and right to follow religions and cultures. “Everyone needs to understand that the basic human rights that everyone is entitled also apply to the refugees also,” he adds.
Rights activists observe that the Nepal Government is treating the refugees in the interest of China, while compromising with interests of the refugees. They suggest the government to change the policy and also comply with its responsibility to protect rights of the refugees living in its jurisdiction.
As the Government just forms and follows policy to maintain friendly relationship with China, the refugees are feeling a constant threat. “That is why they don’t speak up openly with any strangers including the press,” says Prasain.
He explains that if the Nepal Government wants, it can also nab people identified as refugees and handover to China. “And, the refugees know that the arrest finally may lead them to severe torture, sometimes even death penalty. So, how can they speak?”, questions the activist.
