Times of India
March 7, 2010

KATHMANDU (TNN) -- Nepal police on Sunday
arrested Thinley Gyatso, the representative of
the Dalai Lama in Nepal, in a bid to prevent
anti-China demonstrations in Nepal on March 10,
observed by Tibetans worldwide as Tibetan Uprising Day.

On this date in 1959, Tibetans rose up in arms
against the Chinese annexation of their kingdom
but the resistance ended in a bloodbath with an
estimated 86,000 people dying. The suppression of
the uprising also led to the Dalai Lama’s flight
to India and a dogged guerrilla nettle against
the Chinese with the Tibetan warriors receiving
arms and training from the US and operating from
Mustang, Nepal’s northernmost district.

China, which has refused to withdraw from Tibet
or even allow it autonomy, has been raising the
spectre of fresh attacks against it from Mustang.
Under Chinese pressure, a succession of Nepal
governments have been clamping down on the Tibetan diaspora in Nepal.

Since last month, Nepal police have arrested
nearly three dozen Tibetan refugees trying to
escape to India and Gyatso’s detention is likely
to be followed by the rounding up of more leaders
of the community, the diaspora fears.

While Tibetans have been heartened by American
President Barack Obama holding a meeting with the
Dalai Lama in New York despite Beijing’s
displeasure, China has retaliated in Nepal by
pressuring the Nepal President, Foreign Minister
and other ministers into staying away from the
anniversary celebrations of an ancient and
renowned Tibetan monastery in Kathmandu.