DANGEROUS CROSSING: - International Campaign for Tibet

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
1959 – A Chinese military assault and counter uprising in Lhasa in March 1959,
prompted the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans to flee Tibet. While the majority
of Tibetans found refuge in India, several thousand were given permission by
King Mahendra to settle in Nepal.
1960s – The Chinese Cultural Revolution saw a sustained attack on the Tibetan Buddhist
culture. Continuing repression in Tibet fed the refugee flow to Nepal. Camps
were established throughout Nepal, many in mountainous lands procured by the
Nepal Red Cross. The then Swiss Association for Technical Assistance (present-day
Swiss Development Corporation) assisted the refugees by establishing farmland and
carpet-weaving factories. As with Nepali citizens, Tibetans were allowed freedoms
of expression, movement, assembly and religion as long as they did not participate
in political movements.
1970s – Tibetan guerillas, supported in part by the CIA and with the knowledge
of the Nepali monarchy, based themselves in Mustang and from there made incursions
into Chinese-occupied Tibet. In 1974, the Royal Nepalese Army was deployed
to disarm the guerillas, who were then settled in the Pokhara region. In the same
year, Tibetan schools were co-opted into the national education system, at the loss
of Tibetan language education, prompting many refugees to send their children
to Tibetan schools in India. The carpet business boomed, becoming one of Nepal’s
biggest exports, bringing economic stability to the Tibetan community in Nepal and
many Nepalis.
1980s – In the late 1980s, the most significant protests in Lhasa since 1959 prompted
China’s imposition of martial law in Lhasa and another exodus of Tibetan refugees
into South Asia. Under pressure from China, Nepal stopped accepting new
Tibetan refugees in 1989, but agreed to guarantee their safe transit through Nepali
territory and onward safe passage to India.
1990s – In 1990, a people’s movement in Nepal created a constitutional monarchy
with a democratically-elected government. In the years following, Tibetans enjoyed
some freedom to express their political views on the situation in Tibet. In 1994,
China criticized Nepal for allowing such protests. In response, Nepal began to curtail
protest outside Tibetan settlements and stopped the issuance and renewal of refugee
documentation. In 1996, an armed insurgency was launched by Maoist rebels,
who termed it a “people’s war.” Along with Nepalis, Tibetan business-owners faced
extortion, and suffered as a result of general economic decline. Many Tibetans from
the remote Himalayan settlements moved to settlements in the urban centers of
35