NEED OF RESETTLEMENT OF TIBETAN REFUGEES FROM NEPAL: A GEO-POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE General Studies by KANCHAN K BASNET, MAJOR, NEPALESE ARMY MPA, Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2011 MSS, Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2017 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 2018 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Fair use determination or copyright permission has been obtained for the inclusion of pictures, maps, graphics, and any other works incorporated into this manuscript. A work of the United States Government is not subject to copyright, however further publication or sale of copyrighted images is not permissible. 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REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 15-06-2018 Master’s Thesis AUG 2017 – JUN 2018 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Need of Resettlement of Tibetan Refugees from Nepal: A Geo- 5b. GRANT NUMBER Political Perspective 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER Maj Kanchan K Basnet 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORG REPORT U.S. Army Command and General Staff College NUMBER ATTN: ATZL-SWD-GD Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2301 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT The Tibetan refugee issue is one of the critical problems for Nepal due to its geo-political and security implications. The 20,000 Tibetans, who are already in Nepal and the thousands of Tibetans who want to cross the Himalayas, either to remain in Nepal illegally or transit to India to join the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) are a matter of concern for all the three neighboring countries. China considers the Tibetan exiles as separatists and urges Nepal to close the route to India whereas India welcomes the Tibetan refugees and provides asylum. This geo-political rivalry between the two historic rivals puts Nepal in a great diplomatic dilemma to handle the case of Tibetan refugees. Nepal has not ratified any of the United Nations conventions for refugees and thus deprives itself a legal means for resolving the asylum questions. Tibetan demonstrations for “Free Tibet Campaign” and self-immolation acts have exacerbated the security challenges for Nepal. Of note, Nepal had a bitter history of Tibetan guerilla operations from its soil against the Chinese government. Against this backdrop, Nepal needs to identify the better solution to mitigate the Tibetan refugee problem as soon as possible in order to prevent itself from being a proxy state of the rival neighboring countries. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Tibetan Refugees, Khampa Guerillas, Central Tibetan Administration, Proxy war, Security Implications, Resettlement 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION 18. NUMBER 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON OF ABSTRACT OF PAGES a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS PAGE 19b. PHONE NUMBER (include area code) (U) (U) (U) (U) 107 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 ii MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Name of Candidate: Maj Kanchan K. Basnet Thesis Title: Need of Resettlement of Tibetan Refugees from Nepal: A Geo-Political Perspective Approved by: , Thesis Committee Chair LTC Aljone D. Lopes, M.A. , Member John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. , Member William T. Pugh, MPA Accepted this 15th day of June 2018 by: , Director, Graduate Degree Programs Robert F. Baumann, Ph.D. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to this study should include the foregoing statement.) iii ABSTRACT NEED OF RESETTLEMENT OF TIBETAN REFUGEES FROM NEPAL: A GEO- POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE, by Major Kanchan K Basnet, 107 pages. The Tibetan refugee issue is one of the critical problems for Nepal due to its geo-political and security implications. The 20,000 Tibetans, who are already in Nepal and the thousands of Tibetans who want to cross the Himalayas, either to remain in Nepal illegally or transit to India to join the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) are a matter of concern for all the three neighboring countries. China considers the Tibetan exiles as separatists and urges Nepal to close the route to India whereas India welcomes the Tibetan refugees and provides asylum. This geo-political rivalry between the two historic rivals puts Nepal in a great diplomatic dilemma to handle the case of Tibetan refugees. Nepal has not ratified any of the United Nations conventions for refugees and thus deprives itself of means for resolving asylum claims. Tibetan demonstrations for “Free Tibet Campaign” and self-immolation acts have exacerbated the security challenges for Nepal. Of note, Nepal had a bitter history of Tibetan guerilla operations from its soil against the Chinese government. Against this backdrop, Nepal needs to identify the better solution to mitigate the Tibetan refugee problem as soon as possible in order to prevent itself from being a proxy state of the rival neighboring countries. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research could not have been possible without the support and guidance from the members of my thesis committee. I am very grateful to the thesis chair LTC Lopes, and my readers Dr. Kuehn and Mr. Pugh for their relentless and concerted guidance and cooperation. More importantly, my research facilitator Dr. Rhoda Risner provided a detailed insight to frame my research work through small group meetings and preliminary mock defense. My special thanks goes to the staffs of the Combined Arms Research library who supported me through inter-library loan books and online search of peer reviewed materials. I am thankful to Major Pravu Mahat of Nepalese Army War College, Deputy Superintendents of Police (Armed Police Force, Nepal) Jeeven K.C and Sudhir Jung Thapa for providing necessary resources for the research. At last but not the least, my sponsors Mr. Matthew Fuherer, Ms. Karin Franson, and Mr. Barry Magnuson are my sources of inspiration who constantly motivated me to go on with the research works. I thank my wife Jyoti Chhetry and my daughter Yashashwi Basnet for understanding me and assisting throughout the research work. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE THESIS APPROVAL PAGE ............ iii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... vi ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................... viii ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................................ ix TABLES ..............................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Study ....................................................................................................... 7 Problem Statement .......................................................................................................... 7 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 8 Definitions of Terms ....................................................................................................... 9 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 18 Scope and Delimitations ............................................................................................... 18 Assumptions .................................................................................................................. 19 Significance of the Study