Dechen Doma Sherpa was told that she was a Sherpa so she had to prove that she's a Nepali. Yes, you are reading this correctly.

 

With a passport that had visa to come to the U.S  in hand, she was stopped at the airport in Kathmandu and was asked to prove that she is a Nepali citizen. In usual circumstances, a passport is proof enough. But, she had her citizenship book also, which she produced, and that was not enough either. And then the demand of Rs. 150,000 came, for her to get the 'right paperwork', so that she can travel. 

 

For any young person, who may not have travelled before to a foreign land, to go alone is in itself a nerve wrecking proposition. Add on that a corrupted goverment official, misusing his authority, who denies you to travel, despite having everything needed as per the goverment's rules. Imagine you haven't seen your loved one(s) for years, and finally everything has been sorted out for you to get to see him/her, after years of longing, and then you had to miss your flight, run around collecting cash to give to this corrupted scum of the earth, so that with his permission, you can leave. 

 

This happened to a young Dechen Doma Sherpa when she wasn't allowed to board her flight by this despicable man named Purna Bahadur Basnet at Tribhuwan International Airport. Dechen did have the presence of mind to record much of the conversation with her cell phone - both audio and video, when she could. You can listen and see much of the heinous crime on this ABC News video broadcasted in Nepal. 

 

Among many things, what struck me most was this conversatin between Dechen and this bastard Purna. 

Dechen: So, like me, when husbands bring us (aborad), others who legally travel go through this hardship?

Purna: Yes.

 

And don't we know that. 

 I agree with ojaswi that there is a big ring of corrupts that needs to be brought down. But what is disappointing is that we people have been turning a blind eye towards what is happening. When I posted Maggie Doyne case a few months back, people back fired at me saying I was over exaggerating the fact and that was not a case of corruption. I was told I dont understand how law and water works in nepal.

Khaireni lai parda hami chup baseu kinaki we thought that was not one of  us so why bother.

Aba ahile hamro nepali sherpa didi tyo case ma parnu bho

I am sure there are several other victims that pass by that airport each day.

Corruption knows no caste color or creed.

It could be any one of us. People need to stand up in solidarity against corruption.

Like the people in China are we becoming less empathetic towards other these days.

"Aafu lai pareko chhaina baalai ho" bhanne mentality bata bahira aaunu paryo.

Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere.. By M L King

Well, i guess we Nepalese have great tolerance of turning blind eye to lots of things. All harvard, MIT graduates of sajha are more concerned with who is more famous Nepali but r not moved by news like this...unless it happens to some1 dat they kno.

It is also sad dat major news outlet have also mostly ignored this news. I wonder why?

 I am against all this corrupt activities taking place in Tribhuwan airport. But I wonder why the victim chose to publicize her grief after she landed in US. She had all the materials to indict the culprit back in Nepal. It would have been more effective had she done it in Nepal itself.  Just my thought.

I now realize why the immigration person at the TIA, Kathmandu was asking me more questions than the visa counselor at the US Embassy when I visited Nepal in July this year. I didn't find anything unusual while entering Nepal but when returning to the US, the person at the immigration was actually comparing me with my photo in the passport, visa and the PR card. He asked me all kinds of stuffs including how long I have been at the States, my purpose of visiting Nepal and going to the US, my present status at US, my parents in Nepal, and etc. etc. All these suspicions (or possible lump of bribe money) were created merely because of my last name -LAMA. No wonder people in front of and behind me were passing other immigration booths so easily and in no time. I was at that booth for at least 10 minutes. I do not look like a stereotype Lama or bhote, may be that trait (or lack of) worked in my favor.

You might think I am blowing it up way out of proportion, but Ms Sherpa could have ignited a small revolution in Nepal...only if we keep the flame burning.

First of all, Dechen Sherpa is my person of the year for so bravely voicing the injustice that every Nepali are subjected to in different walks of life. Sometimes it is convenience, sometimes it is the only way out; whatever it is, it is wrong.

THis case has become a high profile case with plenty of media coverage and PM also getting involved. If more people come forward with similar reports the corrupt officials will think twice before asking for it. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO CURB CORRUPTION. Vigilante and policing is not going to cut it; it will be our action that can stop this.

If you are in Nepal, I am sure you are subjected to a bribery/corruption every single day; please voice your opinion no matter how small the case is. Media will take you story as this is the hot dish of the week. Help Nepal, help yourself.

 @ adhikari_bandhu Why da hell Ms sherpa would want to stay in Nepal even after being harrased like this? She had already missed her flight and she wants to be with her husband. There is no guarantee that even if she had made evidence public while she was in Nepal, any strict action would be swiftly carried out.

 Here, we are still waiting for this news to be picked up. I salute Ms. Sherpa for bringing this issue up and staying on it even after reaching US. 

@stiffler I agree with you. We need to raise our awareness and more people need to come forward.

 We should not let this issue go by so easily, coz Mr. basnet is just a pawn in this chess game and big officals are hiding and leting these things happen and many of them are involved. Keep this thread alive.

What I am reading is that Mr. Sherpa is here on asylum GC. He had sponsored for Dechen Sherpa's visa.

What Mr. Basnet did is wrong and he should be prosecuted, but it is hard for me to believe that Nepalese still need asylum visa. If you want to be holier-than-thou and point finger at somebody, shouldn't you also do the right thing? I am not saying don't apply for asylum; but if you do then you do (except for the actual reasons which I doubt was the case here) lose that moral ground and right to point fingers.

Kiddo:   Now you are blaming the victim.    Where did you "read" her husband got GC thru asylum?  Even if he did, which is done by thousands of people in this country each year, that does not justify what she went thru in Nepal. 

@Madhesi
Do some research, plenty of article say that. I will present one here:
http://nagariknews.com/news-highlights/139-highlights/32631-2011-10-30-04-01-13.html

As for blaming the victim, here you go again. When did I say that justifies what she went thru? Read the first sentence of my 2nd para. My point is that we all claim to be a victim and blame everybody else for the corruption, but the fact is that we are part of that corruption and until we realize this we cannot erase the corruption. There are some cases where asylum are legit; but most of the cases I have seen is just to stay here; every other week you see a thread asking how to goto Nepal with asylum card. Again, I am not saying asylum is wrong; but admit that though your intention was not to decieve you did get a card through crooks. I guess with my logic, everybody would be at fault as everybody does some kind of petty crime and that doesn't mean they cannot point fingers...I am just pointing that when you point one finger to somebody, rest of the 4 are pointing towards you.

 It is funny some people are way too cynical. Even when something like this has happened, people are still trying to find fault on the victim's part. I guess doing this helps cynical people turn blind eye to issue at hand.

This has been going on for a long time. Almost ten years ago when I was coming to USA, my travel agent advised me to keep about 5 to 6 thousand Nepalese ruppes in my pocket. He told me that the immigration officers in airport give troubles and advised me to hand them couple of thousand of rupees if such situation occurs. Therefore I carried about ten thousand Nrs with me while coming to USA. Fortunately the officer let me go without any problem. I have not returned Nepal since then. I still have those 10000 NRS rupees with me.

Here's PM, on a radio call in show, responding to this issue after a caller pose the question.

you guys are so naive..let me tell you everyone get a cut from things like this and mr. Basnet is only a bottom feeder in this scheme. i know from a police friend of mine who's in the usa now that even home minister , igp, sp, other ministers get cut out of airport so there is a rate for airport transferes for govt officals and policemen. like you have to pay 20 lakhs to get transfered there and you're supposed to give 2 lakhs every month to the home minister , and so on and so forth. if you don't make that kinda money then they'll transfer you to rolpa... it is wrong but quit targeting mr. basnet for everything he's definately a part of the corruped system but not everything... 

There is this mentality among nepalese that last name with Gurung, Magar, Sherpa, Lama, Tamang etc are all Lahure and they got tons of money. Most of them are very sojo. So they are the easy victims of these currupt people.

pshrestha...people like you are the #1 reason why crooks like basnet get away with crime. Quit picking on him? is that a fking joke? this basnet guy needs to be made an example out of so that no one in any post dares to do anything similar. I don't give a shit if this guy is just a part of the system, he is caught red handed with video evidence, fk this guy and send him to jail and throw the keys away.

 Chaure, u just expressed my sentiments. People like pshrestha is the reason nepal is screwed up. Things are changing in Nepal. Can anyone feel it? We need to encourage it. It is not easy but it is not undoable. Dechen should be awarded the Woman of the Year award.

Noo fk no I am not supporting this guy at all . I think he should be punished to the full extent but let's not forgrt the other bosses around there who get cuts from acts like this let's punish them too

 This version of PM's interview is clear:
http://www.nepshow.com/2011/11/khabar-bhitra-ko-khabar-pms-live-radio.html

KATHMANDU, Nov 2: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Wednesday instructed Home Secretary Sushil Jung Bahadur Rana to immediately suspend three immigration officials for their alleged involvement in forcing Dichen Dolma Sherpa to pay bribe three weeks ago.

The main offender, office assistant Purna Bahadur Basnet, who forced Sherpa to pay Rs 1, 00,000 in bribe at Tribhuvan International Airport while she was headed for US, is at large since the incident took place.

 
"We have instructed Home Secretary Rana to suspend immigration officer Hari Prasad Neupane, senior immigration assistant Naina Bahadur Karki and computer officer Bishowantar Shukubhatu for abetting the bribe taking incident," said CIAA Spokesperson Ishowrari Paudel.

CIAA has also asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to produce Neupane, Karki and Shukubhatu before the commission for further investigation. The MoHA will book them and produce them before the CIAA. Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had instructed Home Secretary Rana and CIAA Secretary Kafle to immediately initiate the process to punish those involved in bribe taking incident after Sherpa lodged a complaint at Prime Minister´s Office through Nepali Mission in New York.

"We asked the MoHA to suspend them immediately as they can damage the evidences of their involvement in the bribe taking incident," Paudel added.

Basnet and other immigration officials had blocked Sherpa from flying to the US on regular flight and she had to postpone her flight one week later.

Immigration officials had demanded the bribe by telling her that the documents she was carrying were forged. Sherpa had recorded the scenes of her coercion and tortures in audio-video format. She reported the incident along with all the evidences at New York based Nepali Mission. Main offender Basnet was suspended two weeks ago.

    
    
Published on 2011-11-02 21:17:14

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=37843