DHARMSHALA: Following massive protests against China in Nepal, the Maoists led new government threatened to deport Tibetans without valid documents, the Asian Centre for Human Rights urged the visiting Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kumar Dahal 'Prachanda' to protect the rights of the Tibetan refugees in Nepal.

 The  ACHR  said, ""As a ratifying party to the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT), Nepal has the legal obligation to ensure that no Tibetan refugee is repatriated to China where they face the risks of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment. Article 3(1) of the CAT prohibits expulsion, return ("refouler") or extradition of any person to any State where there are substantial grounds for believing that s/he would be in danger of being subjected to torture".

Director of the ACHR Suhas Chakma , said that Nepal tolerates similar protests by the Bhutanese refugees, and the Communist party of Nepal (Maoists) has even included the issue of Bhutanese refugees in its Common Minimum Programme. But now going to take decision apparently to please China. Nepal came under a lot of criticisms for its handling of Tibetan protests in the aftermath of the March unrest in Tibet.

Accusing Nepal of racial discrimination against the Tibetans, Chakma said, "The racist policy of the Maoists-led government against the Tibetan refugees who face arrest, imprisonment and deportation could not have been more conspicuous." Nepal has turned into a poodle of China," said Chakma.

ACHR urged Prachanda to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms including the right to peaceful freedom of association and assembly of all refugees in Nepal.