Sawt Falasteen - Tibet conference in Nepal pushed online

Nepal's government denied that it had ordered the change, though the country is acutely aware of how sensitive the issue of Tibet is to its giant northern neighbour China.

Beijing, which in 1950 sent troops to the vast high-altitude plateau it describes as an integral part of China, has long opposed international activities it sees as challenging its sovereignty.

The conference of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) was expected to draw key scholars from around the world to Kathmandu University to discuss Tibetan history, culture, religion and society.

IATS acting president Francoise Robin, a Tibetan-studies professor at France's National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations, told AFP it was a "very regrettable and worrying development".

"We are proceeding with the conference, but it will take place online," she said.

Organisers at Kathmandu University, which was convening the August 23-29 event, said they were told to withdraw from hosting it.

"We had been planning this conference for a long time, but we received a request from the government not to hold it, so we are not doing it," said conference convener Sagar Raj Sharma, a professor at Kathmandu University.

"The government told us that this is not an appropriate time to conduct this conference," he told AFP.

Nepal denied giving such orders.

"Nepal's government has not given any instructions to cancel it," Hem Raj Aryal, spokesperson at the prime minister's office, told AFP.

"Neither have we sent a letter nor given verbal instructions to stop it. They postponed it on their own."

Nepal hosts thousands of Tibetan refugees, and swathes of the country's high Himalayan north, bordering Tibet, share its culture, Buddhist religion and language.

IATS, established at Britain's University of Oxford in 1979, says it has no political interest or affiliation.

China is landlocked Nepal's second largest trading partner after India, according to World Bank figures.

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST