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Residents of Nepal’s 15 northern districts to get five-yearly Tibet entry-exit passes

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(TibetanReview.net, Aug31’24) – Normal life appears to have finally resumed for the people living in 15 districts of northern Nepal near Chinese occupied Tibet’s border with the two countries having agreed to issue five-year entry and exit passes for them, according to kathmandupost.com Aug 29. Most of these people are ethnically Tibetan or of Tibetan-origin. It is not clear whether people on the Tibetan side of the border will be issued similar passes.

Nepali citizens living in northern districts who depend on Tibet for trade, pilgrimage, work, health checks and other daily activities, have long been complaining of hassles in visiting Tibet due to lack of mandatory passes, the report said.

The permit system was suspended after the onset of Covid pandemic at the end of 2019. After China finally started reopening 14 traditional entry points recently, some local units on the Nepali side started issuing temporary “China Departure and Entry Permits” locally. Now, to streamline the entry and exit permission, the Department of Immigration is all set to issue digital passes to residents of the 15 districts. However, Nepali citizens from other districts will need a visa to enter “Chinese” territory, the report explained.

The 15 districts where the passes would be distributed are listed as Taplejung, Sankhuwasabha, Solukumbhu, Dolakha, Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa, Dhading, Gorkha, Manang, Mustang, Dolpa, Mugu, Humla, Bajhang and Darchula.

And the 14 dedicated trading/entry/exit points are listed as Tiptala (Taplejung); Kimathnaka (Sankhuwasabha); Falak and Lapchi of Dolakha; Tatopani and Gumba of Sindhupalchok; Lazing and Chhekampar (Gorkha); Korala of Mustang; Hilsa (Humla); Nakcha (Mugu); Maringla Bhanjyang (Dolpa); Urai (Bajhang); and Tinkar of Darchula district.

However, Nepal’s Department of Immigration will not immediately issue the entry pass in Solukumbhu, Dhading, and Manang districts due to ongoing adverse weather conditions, the report said.

The five-year pass will be issued exclusively to Nepali citizens living in the 15 border districts, their siblings, and those who are married and living permanently in these districts. Those who have migrated from other districts and are now permanently living in these 15 districts are also eligible for the pass, the report said.

Before 2007, Nepali and Chinese nationals from border districts could travel up to 30 kilometres inside each other’s territory without restrictions. However, in Jan 2007, the two sides reached a new agreement under which an identity card with one-year validity was made mandatory. Now, both sides have developed a digital identity card.

The report noted that Nepal and China first entered an ‘Agreement on Trade and other Related Matters between the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) of China and Nepal’ on Sep 30, 1956, and it was last renewed on Jul 10, 2002.

A Home Ministry official of Nepal has said the ministry and the Department of Immigration had agreed to incorporate biometric security features into the pass, as requested by Chinese officials. The new pass with biometric information is intended to curb illegal and criminal activities across the Nepal-Tibet border, the report added.

Earlier, the Chinese authorities would issue one-year entry permits, and after Covid, they limited it to a day-long pass. If the entry process is simplified further, it will benefit the citizens from both sides even more,” Madav Sapkota, a CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker from Sindhupalchok district, has said.

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