Kathmandu - Nepal has deployed dozens of armed police and
soldiers high up on Mt Everest with orders to open fire to prevent
disruption of the Olympic Torch relay by China, media reports said
Sunday.
About two dozen police and soldiers were deployed on the mountain
to foil any anti-China activities, following threats by Tibetan
activists to disrupt the torch relay, the daily Kathmandu Post
reported.
'Acting upon concerns of the Chinese government towards ensuring
safe passage of the torch, 25 army and police personnel have reached
Camp 2 to prevent any activities against China,' the newspaper quoted
Home Ministry spokesman Mod Raj Dotel as saying.
Camp 2 is located at about 6,500 metres above the sea level and
the police and soldiers have orders to open fire if any protests
turned violent or get out of control in the Everest region, Dotel
said.
'If the security personnel felt pressure to control any untoward
incident, we have made arrangement to deploy additional forces during
the Olympic torch run,' Dotel said. 'Nepal will not allow any such
activities inside its territory.'
The move followed restrictions by Nepal's government on
expeditions to climb beyond camp 2 for between 1-10 May.
Ministry officials also said soldiers would accompany expeditions
as liaison officers up to Camp 2 during the period to ensure they
don't go any higher.
Media reports said China had asked Nepal to restrict climbing on
the 8,848-metre Mt Everest during the planned torch relay on the
mountain.
Nepal has seen growing anti-China protests by Tibetan exiles since
early March and used police force to disperse the demonstrators.
Police arrested more than 500 Tibetan protestors trying to breach
police lines near Chinese embassy in Kathmandu Thursday, in one of
the biggest Tibetan protests so far.
Nepal has also come under increasing criticism for its handling of
the demonstrations, with the US based Human Rights Watch accusing the
government of detaining more than 1,500 Tibetan protestors and in
some cases threatening them with deportation back to Tibet.
Nepal has more than 20,000 Tibetans concentrated mainly in the
Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara in western Nepal.
The figure does not include Tibetans who arrived in the country
after 1990 because the Nepalese government stopped registering them
as refugees.
Rights groups say about 3,000 Tibetans arrive in Nepal each year
crossing dangerous mountain passes and risking their lives to flee
Chinese rule.
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