TIBET: TIBETAN EXILES LOOK HOMEWARDS AS DALAI LAMA TURNS 60

By Neena Bhandari Reprint | | Print |

NEENA BHANDARI

NEW DELHI, Jul 6 1995 (IPS) - CHINESE AND INDIAN PRESSURE HAS CONFINED THE 60TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS OF THE DALAI LAMA HERE TO METAPHYSICAL DEBATES AND PRAYERS, BUT THE 130,000 TIBETAN EXILES STILL CONSIDER IT AN OCCASION TO REMEMBER THEIR HOMELAND.

THE THREE-DAY CELEBRATIONS THAT CULMINATE THURSDAY SAW TIBETANS FROM THE WORLD OVER GATHER HERE TO FELICITATE THE MAN THEY LOOK UP TO AS THE SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL HEAD OF THEIR COUNTRY.

BUT THE DALAI LAMA, DESPITE MANY POINTED QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE, PREFERRED TO REMAIN SILENT ON TIBET’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE.

THIS DID NOT, HOWEVER, STOP THE EXILED TIBETANS FROM HOPING THAT THEIR LEADER WOULD FREE TIBET FROM CHINESE RULE.

“WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT THROUGH NON-VIOLENCE, THE DALAI LAMA WILL BE ABLE TO WIN OVER A POWERFUL NATION LIKE CHINA JUST AS INDIA WAS FREED FROM BRITISH IMPERIALISTS THROUGH MAHATMA GANDHI’S NON-VIOLENCE,” SAID TEMPA TSERING, INFORMATION AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SECRETARY OF THE TIBETAN GOVERNMENT IN EXILE.

INDIA, THOUGH IT PROVIDES ASYLUM TO THE DALAI LAMA AND A VAST MAJORITY OF TIBETAN EXILES, HAS FORBIDDEN POLITICAL ACTIVITY BY THEM SINCE 1991 WHEN CHINESE PREMIER LI PENG VISITED THE COUNTRY.

IN DEFERENCE TO THE SENTIMENTS OF HIS HOST COUNTRY, THE DALAI LAMA HAS NOT UTTERED A WORD ON HIS COUNTRY’S STRUGGLE OR THE PLIGHT OF THE SIX MILLION TIBETANS STILL LIVING THERE, DURING THE THREE DAYS.

BUT, DESPITE NEW DELHI’S ABUNDANT CAUTION TO AVOID STEPPING ON CHINESE TOES, THE CHINESE REPRESENTATIVE HERE, PEI YUAN YING, INDICATED TO THE PRESS THAT HIS COUNTRY WAS MIFFED AT THE SCALE OF CELEBRATIONS AND THE FACT THAT EMINENT INDIANS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE WISHED THE TIBETAN LEADER.

AT LEAST 1.8 MILLION TIBETANS HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE HARSH CONDITIONS OF CHINESE RULE BETWEEN 1949, WHEN THE CHINESE OCCUPIED TIBET, AND 1983. ACCORDING TO A U.N. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP) REPORT, TIBET IS ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD WHERE THE INDIGENOUS INHABITANTS ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST IN EVERY FIELD.

PEOPLE HAVE BARELY ENOUGH TO EAT, SCHOOLS ARE THERE ONLY IN NAME AND THERE ARE NO RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS FOR THE PEOPLE. ELECTRICITY IS ONLY PRESENT IN TOWNS WHERE CHINESE ARE SETTLED.

“THE POWER OF BULBS IS ALSO DIFFERENT FOR TIBETANS. IN LHASA, THE CAPITAL, TIBETANS CAN ONLY USE 20 WATT BULBS WHEREAS THE CHINESE USE 100 WATT BULBS. THE TIBETANS USE STREAM WATER AS THERE IS NO DRINKING WATER SUPPLY,” SAYS TEMPA TSERING.

HAN CHINESE ARE BEING SETTLED IN TIBET TO OUTNUMNER THE LOCAL POPULATION AND REDUCE THEM TO A MINORITY, HE SAYS. THE AGRARIAN POPULATION IS FORCED TO SELL FARM AND ANIMAL PRODUCE AT NOMINAL RATES TO THE CHINESE AND PAY ALL SORTS OF TAXES THAT ARE A DRAIN ON THEIR MEAGRE RESOURCES, HE ADDS.

“WOMEN HAVE BEEN THE WORST SUFFERERS. THEY ARE ILL TREATED AND RAPED. THEY HAVE NO FREEDOM, NO EQUALITY, NO DEVELOPMENT, NO FACILITIES AND NO FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS,” SAYS 35-YEAR-OLD KALSANG CHONDON SHARLING, WHO WORKS AS A TEACHER IN THE LARGEST TIBETAN SETTLEMENT IN INDIA IN THE SOUTHERN STATE OF KARNATAKA.

CHINA DISMISSES ALL ALLEGATIONS OF INFRINGEMENT ON HUMAN RIGHTS AS “GROUNDLESS FABRICATIONS DESIGNED TO SPLIT THE MOTHERLAND.”

KALSANG SAYS THE DALAI LAMA HAS INSPIRED THE TIBETAN WOMEN IN EXILE TO ORGANISE THEMSELVES INTO A TIBETAN WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION WITH 36 BRANCHES ALL OVER THE WORLD.

“THE ASSOCIATION HAS THREE AIMS: FIRST TO PRESERVE THE CULTURE AND RELIGION IN EXILE, SECOND, TO PROMOTE THE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION AND THIRD, TO PROPAGATE THE REAL HAPPENINGS IN TIBET,” SHE SAYS.

YOUNGER TIBETANS, WHO HAVE NOT EVEN SEEN THE DALAI LAMA, BELIEVE LIKE THEIR PARENTS THAT HE IS A DIVINE INCARNATION. “PARENTS CONDITION THEM TO BELIEVE SO. HOWEVER, AS TEACHERS, WE DO NOT INSIST THAT THEY WATCH HIM ON TELEVISION OR HEAR HIM OVER THE RADIO SO THAT THEY CAN DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES,” SAYS KALSANG.

BUT IT IS NOT ONLY FOR THE BUDDHISTS THAT THE DALAI LAMA IS THEIR LEADER. MOHAMMAD TAHIR, ONE OF THE 4,000 ODD TIBETAN MUSLIMS SAYS FOR HIM THE DALAI LAMA IS THE “BADSHAH” OR KING.

“MUSLIMS CONSIDER THE DALAI LAMA AS THEIR POLITICAL LEADER AND RESPECT HIM AS A KING, BUT CERTAINLY NOT AS A RELIGIOUS HEAD. FIRST WE ARE TIBETANS AND THEN MUSLIMS OR BUDDHISTS FOR HIS HOLINESS,” HE SAYS.

RATHER UNUSUALLY FOR A TIBETAN, SAMDHONG RINPOCHE, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSEMBLY OF TIBETAN PEOPLE’S DEPUTIES FOR THE GOVERNMENT IN EXILE SAYS, “ORDINARILY PEOPLE ACCEPT WHATEVER THE DALAI LAMA SAYS, BUT I MAY SOMETIMES DOUBT IT.”

HOWEVER, HE HAS AN INTERESTING THEORY TO EXPLAIN WHY HE BELIEVES TIBET WILL SOON BE FREE OF CHINESE RULE. “NO NATION WITHOUT MORAL STRENGTH CAN BE POWERFUL. CHINA TOO WILL DISMEMBER LIKE THE SOVIET UNION.

“ALREADY, BECAUSE OF THE SELECTED LIBERALISATION POLICY, THE PROVINCES IN THE SOUTH ARE OPERATING INDEPENDENTLY OF THE CENTRE,” HE SAYS. WHEN HONGKONG AND MACAO BECOME PART OF CHINA AND ARE GRANTED DEMOCRACY FOR THE NEXT 50 YEARS AS PROMISED BY THE CHINESE, THERE WILL BE TURMOIL AND AWAKENING, CHANGING THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY, HE SAYS.

ALL THE EXILES SAY THEY ARE DESPERATE TO VISIT THEIR ANCESTRAL HOMES. BUT THEY CAN ONLY BE ALLOWED IN AS CHINESE CITIZENS AND TO PROCURE A VISA IS DIFFICULT. FROM EVERY FAMILY, ONE PERSON IS ALWAYS KEPT AS A HOSTAGE BACK HOME, THEY SAY.

SAYS KALSANG, “THE YOUNG BELIEVE THAT BY THE YEAR 2,000, THE DALAI LAMA WILL BE ABLE TO LIBERATE THEIR COUNTRY.” AND THAT, AT LONG LAST, THE EXILED POPULATION WILL BE ABLE TO GO BACK HOME.