Recognise Tibet as independent buffer state, NGOs urge Himachal Government

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 23

Though the Dalai Lama, supreme spiritual leader of the Tibetans, has maintained a stoic silence, the heightened tension along the India-China border in Ladakh region has given a flip to the Tibetan issue.

Tibetan NGOs have launched a campaign calling upon the Indian government to recognise Tibet as an independent buffer state between India and China. The elected leader of Tibetan government in exile, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay said that Tibet as a buffer state was the only long-term solution to the India-China border dispute.

Though the Dalai Lama had retired from active politics and handed over his temporal power to the elected leadership in 2011, he remains a pivotal force and symbol of Tibetan identity across the world. In the scenario emerging due to worsening relations of India and China due to border dispute, a statement from the Dalai Lama statement over the issue was expected. However, till date he has not issued any statement and confined himself to his spiritual teachings.

The Sikyong, in statements issued to various news channels, has said that if Tibet was converted into a peace zone, the border dispute between India and China, two nuclear powers, could be resolved.

The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), one of the biggest NGOs of Tibetan youth, has also called upon the Indian government to term the India, China border as Indo-Tibetan border.

The Tibetan NGOs have started a campaign in McLeodganj, the headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile, to boycott the Chinese goods. Tibetan NGOs have also condemned “barbaric attack” on Indian soldiers by Chinese army in Ladakh.

However, the Dalai Lama, the supreme spiritual leader of Tibetans, is yet to issue a statement over the heightened tensions between India and China,

A statement issued this week by Tibetan NGOs said that the Tibetan Community stood with India and strongly condemned China’s aggression on Indian territory. They said for centuries, the independent Tibet and India enjoyed peace and shared friendly border trade and cultural bonds. Major rivers sourced in Tibet were shared with downstream countries without any problems. However, once China occupied Tibet, the whole peaceful developments were disrupted.

China has never shared its border with India until Tibet was occupied by the People’s Liberation Army in 1949. Over 1.2 million Tibetans have died due to China’s occupation of Tibet.

However, Tibetans inside Tibet and in exile have never wavered in their struggle against the colonial occupation of their homeland, the Tibetan NGOs said. They said it was high time that India recognised Tibet as an Independent country and an occupied nation by inviting Tibet’s legitimate representation on the Indo-Tibet

border agreement.

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