By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Sep. 24: Tibetan refugees born between January 26, 1950 and July 1, 1986 and their children who have been declared Indian citizens by birth under the Citizenship Act. 1955 can avail passport facilities, said Indian Government’s Ministry of External Affairs in an official circular dated September 17.
The circular sent to all passport offices in India and abroad, however, also declared that obtaining Indian passport by those eligible would mean giving up all existing facilities and benefits availed to a Tibetan refugee living in India.
The memorandum issued after judgement of Delhi High Court stated detailed instruction on surrendering the Registration Certificate (RC), the primary legal document issued to a Tibetan refugee as well as the Identity Certificate (IC) issued in lieu of a travel document for Tibetan refugees, to all the passport issuing authorities.
The same directive also instructed passport offices to accept surrendered documents by eligible Tibetan refugees before issuing passports to them.
The directive signed by Chief Passport Officer of Government of India, Arun Kumar Chatterjee, directed that Tibetan refugees availing passports must sign a legal declaration that states foregoing “status and entitlements” of a Tibetan refugee including privileges, benefits, subsidies given by Central Tibetan Administration as well as not residing in a Tibetan refugee settlement.
Opposing arguments on the issue in the Tibetan diaspora has surfaced over the years. While some argue that availing citizenship of any other nation does not affect their core support to the Tibetan movement, others say that increasing number of Tibetans in India migrating to the west or availing Indian citizenship is gradually affecting the current status quo of the exile Tibetan government, known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration as the face of the Tibetan political movement.
