OLYMPICS MEAN TIGHTER SECURITY AT TIBET-INDIA BORDER

By Dorjee and - - Reprint | | Print |

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DHARAMSALA, Apr 15 2008 (IPS) - With the Beijing Olympics fast approaching, there will likely be a decrease in the flow of refugees entering India from Tibet because of tightened restrictions at the border. Beijing is intent on projecting the image of a united China and has no desire to have Tibetan dissidents leaving the country to tell the world about their countrymen\’s plight in China, writes Dorjee, the director of the Dharamsala\’s Office of the Reception Centres which is in charge of Tibetan refugee arrivals in India. In this article, the author writes that there are a number of reasons Tibetans make this arduous journey to come to Dharamsala. The first is to see and receive the blessings of the Dalai Lama. In addition, they can receive a proper Tibetan education, and monks and nuns are free to practice their faith freely. Tibetans still have to brave the long journey to Dharamsala. They usually plan their escape during wintertime when the borders are not as closely watched because of extreme weather conditions. Some take a bus up to Lhasa, and from there begins the dangerous walk across the Himalayan mountains. The trip lasts anywhere from 15 to 25 days. It takes a while before the refugees are given a permit to stay in Dharamsala because they are also questioned about their backgrounds in order to ascertain that they really are Tibetans and not spies that the Chinese government sent over the border.

In 2007, 2,337 Tibetan refugees entered India, and our latest figures show that from January to mid-March 2008, there were 343 arrivals, from around 6 to 80 years of age.

The journey out of Tibet is always difficult and dangerous. I know this first hand because I am a refugee myself and took that same path. In 1959, when I was six, my family decided to leave Tibet.

Now 49 years later, Tibetans still have to brave the long journey to Dharamsala. They usually plan their escape during wintertime when the borders are not as closely watched because of extreme weather conditions. The itinerary varies depending on where one starts. Some take a bus up to Lhasa, and from there begins the dangerous walk across the Himalayan mountains. The trip lasts anywhere from 15 to 25 days.

These refugees hide and sleep in the daytime when patrols are active, and walk all through the cold night. They risk physical injuries and frostbite, have neither adequate food or money or warm clothing and face the prospect of getting caught and being sent to jail for 6-12 months, kids and adults alike.

To get across the Nepali border, they have to navigate dangerous roads and cross rivers, with the help of guides whom they have to pay certain fees. One of the kids, who arrived on March 15 from Kham Province in eastern Tibet, said that he paid his guide about 200 dollars to help him cross.

There are a number of reasons Tibetans make this arduous journey to come to Dharamsala. The first is to see and receive the blessings of the Dalai Lama. In addition, they can obtain a proper Tibetan education, and monks and nuns are free to practice their faith freely. We’ve heard many accounts of Tibetans who were made to sign a form by Chinese authorities that says “I am against the Dalai Lama”.

It takes a while before the refugees are given a permit to stay in Dharamsala because we also investigate their backgrounds in order to ascertain that they really are Tibetans and not spies that the Chinese government sent over the border.

As soon as they are approved, we arrange an audience for them with the Dalai Lama, before we decide where they can stay. While at the reception centre, we give them basic English lessons, art therapy lessons for children, and some counselling if needed. But they don’t really have any serious psychological problems as all the new arrivals are quite happy to have survived the ordeal of the trip here. To be able to see and meet with the Dalai Lama is enough to make them happy.

Children refugees aged 6-13 years are sent to the Tibetan Children’s Village, which is several kilometres from McLeod Ganj, and to the Tibetan Homes Foundation in the hill station of Mussoorie, India. Children aged 14-17 are sent to the Tibetan Children’s Village Suja school, also in Dharamsala. The children are given proper education on various subjects, including Tibetan language and culture.

Refugees aged 18-30 are sent to the Sherab Gatsel Lobling School, a transit school located 7 kilometres from Dharamsala in the vicinity of the Tibetan Children’s Village School. They are taught English, Tibetan, and mathematics in addition to vocational courses.

Conditions for 30 to 64-year-old refugees are more complicated as they need to be able to support themselves but jobs are hard to come by. We give them 75 to 100 dollars for seed capital to start a small business. This money comes from donations from various organisations and individual donors.

Refugee monks and nuns, meanwhile, are sent to the south Indian state of Karnataka for further monastic studies. There are about 50,000 Tibetan refugees in the south.

From the 85,000 Tibetans refugees who followed the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959, there are now more than 400,000 scattered in Tibetan settlements in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)