Refugee unit in Himachal to keep tab on activities of Tibetans

Shimla, Feb 1 (PTI) In the wake of seizure of hugeforeign currency and other documents from Karmapa''s transithome, the Himachal government today said it was contemplatingto set up a refugee unit to keep tab on activities of Tibetansin the state.

Chief Minister P K Dhumal, who attended the chiefministers'' conference on internal security in Delhi and metUnion Home Minister P Chidambaram, said seizure of foreigncurrency from the monastery was under investigation and thegovernment would provide all the information to Centre.

However, he posed a question to the Centre to clarifythat whether the Tibetans settled in the state are ''guests orexiles''.

"We will set up a Tibetan refugee unit in the stateintelligence department in Shimla and a refugee cell inDharamsala in consultation with the Union Home ministry andExternal Affairs Ministry to monitor activities of exilessettled in the state," Dhumal said.

There are more than 27,500 Tibetan exiles in thestate, mainly in and around Dharamsala, Shimla, Manali andRewalsar.