Kathmandu, Nepal, 28 June, 2019: The US Embassy in Kathmandu has expressed its serious concern over the deportation of a Nepal-born US citizen on suspicion of being an agent of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Kathmandu has sought clarification from the Nepal government regarding Saturday’s deportation of US national Penpa Tsering, 53, from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu.
Tsering had arrived at TIA from New York City via New Delhi on Saturday for the purpose of visiting his relatives in Kathmandu. But the immigration authority had denied his entry into Nepal and was promptly deported to the US after hours of questioning at the airport.
Concerning over the incident, the US embassy has sought clarification from the Nepal government stating that why the US citizen was deported at the request of a foreign government.
Whether a US citizen entering Nepal needed clearance from foreign governments? the US embassy has asked a question to the Nepal government.
As the immigration officials found out that in their records that a man by the same name was on China’s ‘most-wanted’ list, he was denied to enter in Nepal, claims a source close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
The source also claims that this was the mistaken of the immigration officials because exact person who was on China’s ‘most-wanted’ list was not Tsering, who was deported to US though his name is same with the person, who is kept in China’s ‘most-wanted’ list.
It is said that the immigration officials had made the decision on the basis of the letter of the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to restrict a person named Penpa Tsering from entering Nepal.
The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu had written a letter to the Nepal government to restrict the person labeling him as a campaigner of the free Tibet movement.
Tsering, who was born on 1 July 1965 in Nepal, had acquired a US passport on 18 June 2012. As he was the Nepal-born US citizen, he is learnt to have visited Nepal earlier too to visit his relatives and friends in Nepal.
