CHINA-INTERNAL: PASSPORT CONTROLS ON TIBETANS

 Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on November 14, 2016, that Chinese government officials in Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu are visiting the homes of Tibetan passport holders to collect their documents saying that new seals must be affixed. Sources were quoted as saying “the passports will be returned once the newly required seals of township and village authorities are in place.” The source said “Many Tibetans fear that this is an attempt by [Chinese] authorities to stop Tibetans who intend to travel to attend the Kalachakra (“Wheel of Time") teachings in India in January.” The source added, however, that though passportes held by Tibetans are now being collected across Tibetan-populated areas of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu, “those who passports bear visas for business travel are exempt from the confiscation, and their passports are not being seized.”


Meanwhile, other sources were quoted as saying that Tibetans already traveling in Nepal are being ordered to return home. He said “Recently, a group of Tibetans holding legal Chinese travel documents arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, intending to visit various pilgrimage sites in Nepal and India. They were also planning to attend the Kalachakra teachings in Bodh Gaya in January 2017. However, their relatives back home called them in Nepal and told them to return immediately, telling them that Chinese officials had come to their homes to order their return. They also said that the government officials who had vouched for the passport holders could lose their jobs.” Another source said “My own passport is not [stamped] for visiting India. The Chinese authorities suspect that we will just go anyway to attend the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra teachings, but this isn’t true.”
 






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