DANGEROUS CROSSING: - International Campaign for Tibet

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
A fourth Tibetan community leader was also detained on October 17. Chime, the
head of the Jawalakhel Tibetan settlement, was taken into custody and questioned
by police for over an hour following a visit to the settlement by U.S. government
officials earlier that day. 56
On October 18, U.S. Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner arrived for a two-day visit
to Kathmandu. 57 Congressman Sensenbrenner met with Prime Minister Baburam
Bhattarai and reportedly raised concerns regarding the police crackdown on Tibetans
in Nepal. During their meeting, Sensenbrenner raised the issue of safe passage
for Tibetan refugees through Nepal and encouraged the prime minister to
uphold the Gentlemen’s Agreement. Rather than affirming Nepal’s commitment to
the Gentlemen’s Agreement and international legal standards regarding refugees,
the prime minister reportedly replied to Sensenbrenner’s concerns by referencing
Nepal’s “sensitive position” given Beijing’s expectations of Nepal on Tibet. 58
Despite support from the international community for better treatment of its Tibetan
population, the Nepal government continued to pursue actions that satisfied
Beijing’s demands to prevent “anti-China” activities on Nepal’s soil.
On November 1, 2011, Nepal police detained 58 people after the Tibetan community
in Bhanimandal gathered for a prayer service to commemorate the Tibetans
who had self-immolated in Tibet. 59 A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police
Commissioner’s Office later attempted to justify the detentions by saying that the
prayer gathering was a ruse for holding an “anti-China” protest, and violated Nepal’s
‘one-China’ policy. The detentions coincided with a November 1-6 visit to
Nepal by Deputy Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Wu Yingjie. 60
On November 3, U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf took up the issue of Tibetans in Nepal
during a Congressional hearing on Tibet warning that Nepal risked jeopardizing
U.S. government aid if it did not beginning granting exit visas for Tibetans seeking
refuge in the United States. 61 Congressman Wolf, a member of the House Appropriations
Committee, which determines funding for US foreign aid, said that US aid
to Nepal would come under review in 2012 if Nepal’s record did not improve. 62
In the early morning hours of November 10, as local Tibetans performed prayers
while circulating the stupa in the Boudha area of Kathmandu, a Tibetan monk
named Butuk doused himself with gasoline and self-immolated. Still aflame, Butuk
called out “stop the violence in Tibet” and “long live the Dalai Lama,” as onlookers
quickly moved to extinguish the flames. Butuk survived the self-immolation protest.
On November 20, little more than a week after Butuk’s self-immolation, U.S. Ambassador
DeLisi wrote an opinion piece published in The Kathmandu Post making
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