Tibetans will have tough time in Nepal: Acting prime minister

Kathmandu, Sep 22 (UNI) Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bamdev Gautam has said that officially unrecognised Tibetan refugees will not be allowed to stay in Nepal, media reports said here today.

''We will not let the refugees without identity card to live in Nepal,'' Kantipur quoted Mr Gautam as saying. He said that the number of Tibetan refugees in Nepal has crossed the limit the country can take in.

The Home Minister further said that their activities in the country would also be controlled.

However, he also said that the government may review the prevailing laws to solve the refugee crisis.

''Tibetans cannot live in Nepal for centuries as refugees,'' he said and added, ''To solve the crisis, we may have to review the laws and grant them Nepali citizenship.'' The statement of Mr Gautam, who is working as an acting prime minister in the absence of prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who has gone to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, has come at a time when the Chinese government has expressed concern and repeatedly urging the Nepalese government to control the activities of the Tibetan refugees.

There are more than 20000 Tibetan refugees living in Nepal since the Dalai Lama left Tibet to live in Dharmashala in India.

There are demonstrations in Kathmandu since the crackdown on Tibetans a few moths ago.

UNI XC RJ RAI2312