The campaign has been initiated under directives from the local administration after Republica published a report on how the red-light area in Khasa of Tibet is expanding and young girls are being ferried from the neighboring districts of Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, and Dolakha to work as sex workers there. [break]
The immigration officials interrogate young girls heading for Khasa to discourage them. “We inform them about the red-light area and the sorry plight of Nepali girls there,” Chief Officer at the Immigration Office, Tatopani Bijaya Poudel said.
People from either side of the Sino-Nepal border are allowed entry up to 30 km on the other side of the border with a temporary pass issued on the border.
Nepali girls going to Khasa with the temporary pass work in dance restaurants, cabin restaurants and hotels in the red-light area. There are six dance bars with Nepali dancers and the number of Nepali style hotels in Khasa has reached 10.
The police team at the Border Police Office, Larcha also interrogates girls going to Khasa. “We are trying to convince them that Nepali girls are being forced to do dirty things in Khasa,” Poudel added.
He said a few girls have even returned from the immigration office without crossing the border after learning about the plight of Nepali girls working there.
Tibet was identified as the new hub of trafficking of Nepali women after Maiti Nepal rescued five women taken to Tibet through Tatopani and Rasuwa.
Maiti Nepal is setting up check posts on the northern border for the first time responding to the demand of the locals. The check post to be set up near Tatopani customs office would be the first formal unit of Maiti Nepal on the Sino-Nepal border. It has 10 such units on the Indo-Nepal border.
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