Ranchi, October 9 – INDIA BEING home to one lakh Tibetans-in-exile and world’s largest democracy could help negotiate with China to bring Tibetans their motherland back to them, said Ven. Yungdrung Gyaltsen here at a seminar, “Tibet: Kailash Mansrover,” on Saturday.
Gyaltsen is one of the 46 members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile in India. As 2004 is being observed as Tibet Year, the two-day seminar is being organized by the Core Group for Tibetan Cause in collaboration with the Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society (ITFS), Eastern Region.
Supported by the New Delhi based India Tibet Coordination Office, about 200 representatives from Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa are attending the seminar.
Highlighting the plights of the people of Tibet after its occupation by China in 1959, Gyaltsen said that the 2000 years old independent buffer country had over the decades become the most dangerous zone in Asia thanks to the military and nuclear installations by China.
“The occupation is not only an eyesore in the modern world but it also poses nuclear threat to the region,” he said, calling for efforts to force China to free Tibet as an autonomous and no-military zone. Reiterating the Dalai Lama’s observation that India had been a ‘Guru-Desh’ for the Tibetans for millenniums, he said that India along with the comity of nations could not remain silent spectators to the total annihilation of an ancient race.
Rajya Sabha member, Bashisht Narain Singh, highlighted the Tibetan update and praised the efforts made by the Core Group. He said Tibetans were getting worldwide support for their cause that would make China realize the demand of the present age of globalisation.
A member of the Indian Parliamentary group on Tibet, Singh informed that similar parliamentary groups have been formed in as many as 31 countries to bring China on the negotiating table with Dharamsala-based Dalai Lama.
“Chinese settlements are being imposed in the occupied Tibet, roads for military purpose are being built on the Indian border, and Kailash Mansrover is being polluted,” he said, adding that both India and Tibet are equally sufferer of the Chinese aggression.
Talking to Hindustan Times, Coordinator, India Tibet Coordination Office, New Delhi, Choekyong Wangchuk, said that China had hoodwinked the world by announcing autonomy in Tibet. He said out of total of 2.5 million square Kilometer area of Tibet, the ‘misnomer autonomy has been granted in only 1.2 million square kilometer and rest of the land has been merged into Chinese provinces.
The two-day seminar would discuss the threadbare Tibetan issue and prepare a resolution for the future course of action. Renowned persons championing the Tibetan cause including Dr. Anand Kumar, Bipin Bihari, Lama Norbu Shastri and Dr. K.C. Agnihotri would air their views on the occasion.
