By Tendar Tsering
DHARAMSHALA, December 22: An expert on majority-minority relations in China and India, and the author of numerous hard-hitting articles on Tibet, Dibyesh Anand warned Tibetans in India of more vulnerability in the future.
Speaking to a select audience at the Tibetan exile headquarters of Dharamshala, northern India, Anand, who is an Associate Professor at London’s Westminster University said that post the Dalai Lama, Tibetans in India will be exposed to more uncertainties.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a guest in India and so are the Tibetans because of the Dalai Lama. But once His Holiness is not with us for some reason, India can withdraw that hospitality any time,” said Anand.
Signaling that the issuance of RC (Residential Certificate) by the Indian government without formally recognising the Tibetans as refugees was “sort of an official tactic” to use the Tibetan issue for “better business” with Beijing, the expert urged Tibetans to apply for Indian citizenship.
“Citizenship is nothing but just a paper. It won’t change anything. It is just for convenience sake,” Anand said. “I have a British citizenship, so it’s more convenient for me to travel anywhere, even to Pakistan. It won’t change my blood relationship with India. I am always an Indian.”
“Tibetans have to become more imaginative and more creative,” added Anand, who in a recent article argued that the exile Tibetan leadership must address the disjuncture between their commitment to the Middle Way Policy and the actual reality of the Tibetan struggle where 12 cases of self-immolation had occurred in Tibet this year alone.
The Associate Professor also warned the Tibetans that the high migration rate to the US, Canada, Australia, Europe or to other countries will potentially lead the Tibetan movement to a crisis.
“China is not afraid of Tibetans in the west but China is afraid of Tibetans in India and Nepal because India and Nepal share borders with China,” asserted Anand.
“Its important for Tibetans to stay in India or Nepal,” said the expert.
Recalling from his earlier visits to Tibet, Anand noted that the infrastructure in Tibet was being developed visibly but the “dignity of the Tibetan people was not respected in Tibet”.
