CM wants Tibetan govt to stay
From Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Nov 27 — The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, today said the state government would provide all protection to the Tibetans and they need not shift elsewhere.

Contacted over the phone at Shimla, he said that the Tibetans, led by the Dalai Lama, have been residing here for the past 40 years. It is for them to decide, where to have their set up. "However, we cannot compel them to stay here as it is ultimately for them to decide," he added.

He said the state government had provided the Tibetans all the facilities despite inconvenience to the local people.

Due to the deep reverence for the Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader, the Dalai Lama and the dependence of the local economy on the Tibetans, there is hardly anybody, who wants them to leave McLeodganj.

McLeodganj, which is the headquarter of the Tibetan government-in-exile, figures prominently on the world map, solely due to the abode of the Dalai Lama being here. Apart from being an international tourist destination the economy of the small town, a suburb of Dharamsala to a large extent depends on the presence of the large Tibetan population.

Though McLeodganj is the biggest Tibetan settlement in Himachal Pradesh, a large number of other settlements have mushroomed all over the state. Despite some clashes between the Tibetans and the locals, at various places in the state the majority of the people still feel that overall relations between the two communities are quite harmonious.

News of the shifting of some of the departments of the Tibetan Government-in-exile to Faridabad, in Haryana, in the near future and speculation of a residence for the Dalai Lama, coming up there has the local community worried. The Dalai Lama and his family and supporters were settled in McLeodganj in 1960 after fleeing from Tibet in March 1959, by the then Indian government of Pandit Nehru.

One of the oldest residents of McLeodganj and a personal friend of the Dalai Lama, Mr N.N. Nowrojee, who runs a shop here asked about the issue felt that whenever two communities live together, there is bound to be a little trouble. If one small incident has taken place in forty years it does not indicate that the relations between the Tibetans and the locals are not harmonious, he stated.

He admitted that to some extent the behaviour of Tibetan shopkeepers with Indians was rude. After the clashes in 1994, the Dalai Lama, was very perturbed and wanted to move from here, but later he understood the whole situation and changed his decision, he said.

A young Tibetan girl, Dolma, who runs a shop in McLeodganj, said she felt comfortable living here but admitted that Tibetans in general do not mix much with the locals. Since we have our own Tibetan schools, and government set up, there is hardly any opportunity left for interaction with the Indians, she confessed.

Some hoteliers, travel agents and people related with the tourism industry felt that with the exit of the Dalai Lama, McLeodganj and Dharamsala would lose their charm. The huge influx of foreign tourist is only because of the Dalai Lama and the headquarter of the Tibetan Government in exile. They said that despite the fact that the Tibetans were living on Indian soil, their behaviour with the Indians was not cordial, and this was a reason for confrontation.

The president of the local Municipal Council, Mr Kamal Kant Minocha, was of the opinion that though there was hardly any interaction between the Tibetans and locals nobody wanted them to leave.

The officials of the Tibetan Government, on condition of anonymity, admit that the relations between the locals and the Tibetans are not very cordial. They say that even the local administration puts the blame on them for a number of problems. It is because of this that we thought of shifting some of the departments and having a set up at Faridabad. They felt that sooner or later they will have to look for a bigger place as tiny McLeodganj is getting too congested even for the present population. However, officially they say that the headquarters of the government will not be shifted out.

The local population feel that ill will is generated as the government adopts double standards. "While all rules and the law of the land are applicable to us, the Tibetans, despite having refugee status, go scot free," said a local.

Overall, the people here, both Tibetans and the locals, say that they do not see the 1994 clashes being repeated as there is no major problem.