Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang: 65 years on, India-China ties remain complex and chaotic

My article Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang: 65 years on, India-China ties remain complex and chaotic appeared in Firstpost...

The Dalai Lama’s escape to Tawang in 1959 not only marked a significant turning point in India-China relations but also highlighted the enduring struggle for Tibetan autonomy amid shifting regional dynamics 

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Sixty-five years ago, momentous events took place on the Tibetan plateau; they had incalculable and incredible consequences for India, which until then had peaceful northern borders.
On 31 March, 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet crossed the Indian border at Khenzimane on the riverbank of the Namjiang Chu (river) in the Tawang sector of today’s Arunachal Pradesh.
A few days earlier, camping in Lhuntse Dzong in Southern Tibet, the Tibetan leader had sent a cable to the Indian prime minister. The Dalai Lama who had just denounced the 17-Point Agreement signed under duress in Beijing in May 1951, said: “The Government of Tibet have tried their best to maintain good relations with China but the Chinese have been trying to take away powers from the Tibetan Government and in some areas they are making preparations for war. On March 17, 1959 at 4 pm the Chinese fired two shells in the direction of my residence. They could not do much damage. [But] as our lives were in danger, I and some of my trusted [people] manage to escape the same evening at 10 pm.”
On 27 March, TS Murty, the Assistant Political Officer in Tawang received instructions about the possibility of the Dalai Lama seeking entry into India. He was immediately asked to proceed towards the border to receive the dignitary and escort him to Tawang, Bomdila and Tezpur.
An archive document from the Government of India stated: “Expecting that some such development might occur, we had instructed the various check-posts there what to do. So, when the Dalai Lama crossed over into our territory, he was received by our Assistant Political Officer of the Tawang Sub-Division. …A little later, the rest of his entourage came in. The total numbers who have come with him or after him is 80.” More than 85,000 Tibetans would come to India during the following years.

Dalai Lama arrives in India
On 31 March at 9 am, Murty reached Chuthangmu, where a detachment of the 5th Battalion of the Assam Rifles was posted. The Dalai Lama’s advance party under a junior officer had already reached the post two days earlier. Murty was told that the main party consisting of the Dalai Lama, his family, ministers and tutors was expected to enter India at 2 pm the same day.
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Murty communicated to Bomdila and Shillong (seat of the Governor of Assam) that there was no sign of the Chinese pursuit.
After planting his walking stick (which since then has become a beautiful tree and is known by the locals as the ‘Holy Tree’) on the frontier at Khenzimane, the Dalai Lama proceeded to Chuthangmu check-post where Murty handed over to him the Indian prime minister’s message. The Tibetan leader was immediately treated by India as an ‘honoured guest’ and for the past 65 years, he has remained so.
This would have important consequences for India. Soon after, the first clashes took place with the Chinese on the border (the first serious skirmish happened in Longju in Subansiri sector on 25 August, 1959). It was undoubtedly for the warm welcome given to the Tibetan leader.

Today’s Chinese claims
Recently, Beijing has again started claiming the area (corresponding to the state of Arunachal Pradesh) as its own. However, it is worth noting that when the Dalai Lama and his entourage entered India at Khenzimane in 1959, the Chinese government did not protest about the location of the border or even claim that Tawang was ‘Southern Tibet’ (the term used today by Beijing to define Tawang).
They knew perfectly well that the Tibetan leader had taken refuge in Indian territory. Strangely, Beijing is today insisting that Tawang district is part of the People’s Republic of China, but it is clearly an afterthought.
Had Beijing already believed that Tawang area was part of the Chinese territory in 1959, the Chinese troops would have followed the Dalai Lama and his entourage into this area and stopped him from moving to Assam.
The Dalai Lama also clearly mentions in his autobiography that Chuthangmu was the border where he was received by a detachment of the Assam Riffles. He wrote: “I would like to state how the Government of India’s officers posted there had spared no efforts in making my stay and journey through this extremely well administered part of India as comfort-able as possible.”

Events of March 1959
The Tibetan leader’s arrival in India was the culmination of the events of March 1959 in Tibet. It included the popular uprising on 10 March. The escape of the Dalai Lama from Lhasa on the night of 17 March, the massacre of the Tibetan population during the following days and finally the so-called ‘emancipation’ (or ‘liberation’) of the Tibetans by the Communists.
In his ‘Report for the months of March, April and May 1959’ sent to the Ministry of External Affairs, Maj SL Chibber, the Indian Consul General in Lhasa recounted: “In the history of movement for free Tibet, the month of March, 1959, will be most historic …during this month Tibetans high and low, in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, openly challenged the Chinese rule … the might of [the] Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), who on March 20, 1959, started an all-out offensive against the ill-organised, ill-equipped and untrained Tibetans with artillery, mortars, machine guns and all types of automatic weapons, [the protest] was short-lived.”
Chibber continued: “On March 28, 1959, the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China dissolved the local Tibet Government and transferred all its functions and powers to the Preparatory Committee for the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).”
Another account was given by the Chinese author, Jianglin Li in her book, Tibet in Agony. She used Chinese sources to describe the crackdown in Lhasa. Jianglin wrote: “From March 25 to April 5, the CPC’s Central Committee held an enlarged politburo meeting, and the seventh plenary session of the Eighth Central Committee in Shanghai. Pacification of rebellion in Tibet and relations with India were two of the issues discussed. Wu Lengxi, who was then head of Xinhua news agency and chief editor of The People’s Daily, revealed a glimpse of Mao’s thinking on the China-India relationship in his memoir: ‘Let the Indian Government commit all the wrongs for now. When the time comes, we will settle accounts with them’ [would have said the Great Helmsman].”
The accounts were ‘settled’ three years later (in October 1962) when the 7Th Infantry Brigade was decimated on the slopes of the Thagla ridge.
Since then, Beijing has used its propaganda machinery to paint the dramatic events of 1959 in white when they were black.

Propaganda continues
As recently as 21 March, 2024, China Tibet Network republished an interview of Anna Louise Strong, the author of A Million Serfs Stand Up. She, like Edgar Snow, falls in the category of what Lenin described as the ‘useful idiots’, i.e. foreigners defending all the actions of the Communist Party of China, including during the Cultural Revolution.
In August 1959, she was one the first foreign journalists to arrive in Tibet after the massacre of the Tibetans (prosaically called ‘democratic reform’ by Beijing); she wrote: “The air on the plateau is thin, and the entire nature seems to be soaked in sunlight. Snow peaks, rocks, cliffs, and long sloping pastures all have very bright colors, which are more dazzling than any scenery I have ever seen." She added, “Maybe instead of trusting others, it’s better to go and see for yourself.”
The Chinese website said: “In the next months, she visited Norbulingka, Jokhang Temple, Potala Palace, Drepung Temple, walked into the fields, and walked into the former serfs …She interviewed monks and former serfs, celebrated the Fruit Festival with farmers and herdsmen, and felt the joy of the harvest.” Strong celebrated the Communist ‘emancipation’ of the Tibetans.
Sixty-five years later, Beijing still uses Strong’s propaganda writings to justify their 1959 actions, forgetting that according to Chinese own records, 87,000 Tibetans were killed during these few weeks of March and April 1959, though according to China Tibet Network: “[Strong] did a lot of homework, analyzed the background of democratic reform, and also carefully observed and recorded the situation of democratic reforms in Lhasa, Shannan, Shigatse, Nyingchi and other places, and completed When serfs stood up in Tibet.”

End of a way of life
RS Kapur, another Indian official posted as Indian Trade Agent in Gyantse, wrote in his usually emotionless Annual Report for the Year 1959: “While heart of Tibet was bleeding the free world only made speeches. With the end of the debate on Tibet in the United Nations, Tibetans lost all hopes of their survival, stare at the sky with the blank eyes and ask: Where is God? Where is Buddha? How can world witness such brutal acts on a race that has always wanted to live in peace?”
Kapur added: “Buddha, the Tibetans say, has disappeared from the world; [they] are fast losing hopes of survival of their race. From all appearance Tibet is finished.”
Sixty-five years of a very sad tale indeed. But we have perhaps not seen the end of the story.

Sixty Five Years Ago: The Dalai Lama crosses over to India

An article written five years ago...

At a time when China says that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is not his ‘personal decision’, but that he should follow the ‘Communist Party’s instructions’, it is important to remember the momentous event which took place sixty years ago in the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), today’s Arunachal Pradesh.
On March 31, 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet crossed the Indo-Tibet border at Khenzimane in the NEFA’s Kameng Frontier Division, north of Tawang; a couple of kilometers south, he met a detachment of the Assam Rifles waiting to welcome him at Chuthangmu.
Since then, he has been an honoured guest of India.
Four days earlier, the 24-year-old Tibetan leader had sent a message to Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India: “Ever since Tibet went under the control of Red China and the Tibetan Government lost its powers in 1951, I, my Government officers and citizens have been trying to maintain peace in Tibet, but the Chinese Government has been gradually subduing the Tibetan Government.
He further stated: “The Tibetans have great love for and faith in Buddhism and their religion is more precious to them than their lives. In order to root out Buddhism, the Chinese published some articles in the press against Lord Buddha’s teachings and circulated them widely. This has created [an] unhappy atmosphere amongst the Tibetans and they have started disliking intensely the Chinese Administration.”
The Dalai Lama told Nehru about the circumstances of his departure: “On March 17 at 4 pm, the Chinese fired two shells in the direction of my residence. They could not do much damage. As our lives were in danger, I and some of my trusted staff managed to escape the same evening at 10 pm.”
The party headed south and reached Lhuntse Dzong, north of the NEFA on March 26, after what has been termed as the Escape of the Century. The Dalai Lama observed: “India and Tibet have had religious relations for thousand years and they are like brothers without any differences;” he then requested Nehru for asylum: “In this critical situation we are entering India via Tsona [last town north of Tawang]. I hope that you will please make necessary arrangements for us in the Indian territory.”
Ever since, India has looked after the Tibetan leader’s welfare.

The Arrival in India
On March 27, TS Murty, the Assistant Political Officer was told to rush from his headquarters in Tawang to the border; on March 31 in the morning, he reached Chuthangmu in time to receive the Tibetan Lama.
The Dalai Lama’s advance party, under a junior officer, had already come two days earlier; they had informed the Assam Rifles that the main group consisted of the Dalai Lama, his family, his two tutors and three ministers; they were expected to enter India soon. Indian officials were also told that there was no sign of a Chinese pursuit; the party only needed more porters once they entered India.
A secret report sent to Delhi observed: “At 1400 hours on March 31, the Dalai Lama and his party reached Kenze Mane [Khenzimane] which demarcates the frontier in Chuthangmu area. His Holiness was riding a yak and was received by the Assistant Political Officer, Tawang. They proceeded to the checkpost without halting at the frontier.”
It was agreed that all porters, who had come from Tibet, would be sent back and that porterage arrangements thereafter would be made by the Government of India; the report continued: “It was also agreed that all pistols and revolvers, except those in possession of the Dalai Lama, his family and ministers (excluding their servants), and all rifles would be handed over to us for safe custody and that these could be collected at the frontier by those members of the body guard who were to return to Tibet after escorting the Dalai Lama to the plains or that alternatively, we would keep that in our custody and obtain disposal orders from the Government.” It is doubtful if the Dalai Lama himself had a pistol.
A reply from the Prime Minister to the Dalai Lama’s message was received through KL Mehta, Advisor to the Government of Assam on April 3: “I received Your Holiness' message only yesterday on my return to Delhi. My colleagues and I welcome you and send you greetings on your safe arrival in India. We shall be happy to afford the necessary facilities for you, your family and entourage to reside in India. The people of India who hold you in great veneration will no doubt accord their traditional respect to your person.”
Sixty years later, the veneration remains.

The Dalai Lama’s account
Let us come back a few days earlier.
In his memoirs, Freedom in Exile, the Dalai Lama narrated his last days in Tibet: “From Lhuntse Dzong we passed to the small village of Jhora and from there to the Karpo pass, the last before the border. Just as we were nearing the highest point of the track we received a bad shock. Out of nowhere, an aeroplane appeared and flew directly overhead. It passed quickly - too quickly for anyone to be able to see what markings it had - but not so fast that the people on board could have missed spotting us. This was not a good sign. If it was Chinese, as it probably was, there was a good chance that they now knew where we were. With this information they could return to attack us from the air, against which we had no protection. Whatever the identity of the aircraft, it was a forceful reminder that I was not safe anywhere in Tibet. Any misgivings I had about going into exile vanished with this realisation: India was our only hope.”
As the party was spending its last night in a small village called Mangmang; it suddenly began to rain: “This was on top of a week of appalling weather, which threw blizzards and snow glare at us by turns as we straggled along. We were all exhausted and it was the last thing that we needed, but it continued torrentially throughout the night,” remembered the Dalai Lama.
Though the young leader was very sick, he decided to move on: “I now had the difficult task of saying goodbye to the soldiers and freedom fighters who had escorted me all the way from Lhasa, and who were now about to turn and face the Chinese. There was one official too who decided to remain. He said that he did not think that he could be of much use in India, therefore it would be better to stay and fight. I really admired his determination and courage.”
It is how the Dalai Lama arrived in India sixty years ago: “After bidding these people a tearful farewell, I was helped on to the broad back of a dzomo, for I was still too ill to ride a horse. And it was on this humble form of transport that I left my native land.”
On the back of a yak!

A Report from the Political Officer
Har Mander Singh, the Political Officer (PO) of the Kameng Frontier Division received the Tibetan leader in Lumla, south of the border, mid-way to Tawang.
Har Mander informed Delhi that after crossing to India, the Dalai Lama had moved south, passed the historical Gorsam Stupa, reached Shakti village the next day and Lumla on April 3.
Here the PO had long discussions with the Tibetan officials and the Dalai Lama: “the [Tibetan] Foreign Minister [Thupten Liushar] briefly recounted the circumstances under which the Dalai Lama was forced to leave Tibet. About the relations between China and Tibet, he said: “…The Government of Tibet was, however, in possession of documents refuting Chinese claim of suzerainty over them and in support of theirs being an independent country.”
Liushar said that the Dalai Lama himself had felt that he should work in harmony with the Chinese: “Indeed during his visit to India [in 1956] he was advised by the Indian Prime Minister himself to cooperate with the Chinese in the interest of his country.”
In spite of the Dalai Lama’s effort to accommodate the Chinese viewpoint, “the Chinese interfere in the religious affairs of the Tibetans... They had desecrated several monasteries in Kham Province and had also killed several incarnate Lamas,” wrote the PO.
The Indian officials were informed how the Dalai Lama had decided to escape via the Southern route as the only Chinese garrison (of about 600) on the way was in Tsethang where the Chinese: “were surrounded by the rebel [guerilla] troops and Tibetan Government forces and could not, therefore, interfere with the movement of the party.”
Before moving on to India, the Dalai Lama had established an exile Government in Lhuntse Dzong.
Later, on the way to India, the Tibetans mentioned the aircraft flying over them near Tsona; it could well have been an Indian airplane from Squadron 106, mentioned by Wing Commander ‘Jaggi’ Nath in a recent interview to Rediff.com.
The Tibetan ministers informed the Indian officials that: “The policy of the Chinese was becoming increasingly anti-religious; the masses of Tibet were restive and he was no longer able to make them put up with the Chinese rule; the Chinese had attempted to endanger [the Dalai Lama’s] person; Tibet should be free; his people would fight to win their freedom; he was confident that India’s sympathies are with the Tibetans; the seat of his Government had shifted from Lhasa to Lhuntse Dzong.”
The program of the party was briefly discussed, reported Har Mander Singh: “The Foreign Minister indicated that they might like to stay up to ten days in Tawang. I explained briefly the disadvantages of their prolonged stay in Tawang and said that we could perhaps make them more comfortable in Bomdi La. I made it clear, however that we were prepared to accede to the Dalai Lama’s wishes. The Foreign Minister said that it would be possible to cut down their stay in Tawang to about three days.”
Har Mander Singh assured Liushar that India would provide all facilities for travel beyond Tawang to all persons accompanying the Dalai Lama, but there was danger that stray persons escaping from Tibet may take this opportunity and come in along with the main party. He wanted a full list of persons entering India, as comprehensive and accurate as possible, he said.
During the following weeks, 12,000 refugees would cross the border; the exodus will continue for several years.
The rest is history.

Crossing the border

Assam Rifles Guard of Honour in Tawang

The Dalai Lama's Mother in Bomdila

With PO Har Mander Singh

In Tawang

In Siliguri with PN Menon, former Indian Consul general in Lhasa

Living in Fear of the Masses

According to a notice from the Metok Border Management Brigade, from March 1, the Chinese authorities will begin “to check border pass, ID cards and other documents of people entering and exiting Metok.”
Metok is the last small, but strategic town near the McMahon Line (north of Upper Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh).
The notice says that the entire Metok region now comes under ‘border management’ and the area will thereafter be restricted: “People entering and leaving must comply with the relevant regulations of the border management area and need to show relevant documents at border checkpoints to be allowed to pass.”
What is strange is that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is not exempted from these new restrictions: “officers and soldiers of the PLA and the People’s Armed Police (PAP) who are not stationed in the area must present a certificate issued by the competent department at or above the regimental level to enter and leave the border area.”
The notice adds that if an entire military unit wants to enter or exit the border area, the border inspection department should be notified in advance for inspection.
Why is China so nervous? Fearing Indian infiltrations? Difficult to believe.
Radio Free Asia gives the beginning of an answer: “Chinese authorities in Tibet are tightening security and carrying out arrests in the regional capital Lhasa and along Tibet’s border with Nepal in the run-up to a month of politically sensitive anniversaries beginning in March.”
March is an ‘important’ month; the Two Sessions will take place in Beijing (the meetings of the National People’s Conference and The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), but it is also the anniversary of March 10, the Tibetan Uprising Day, when the entire population in Lhasa revolted against the Communist rule in 1959, forcing the Dalai Lama to escape to India.
RFA gives more information: “Among those taken into custody are Tibetans suspected of sharing information on the deaths of Chinese soldiers killed in a border clash with India last June in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh.”
A source told RFA’s Tibetan Service: “the Chinese government has increased these arrests and crackdowns in Lhasa and in border areas and those who are suspected of exchanging information regarding the deaths of the Chinese soldiers on the border are immediately arrested.”
Beijing also still remembers that on March 14, 2008, riots started in Lhasa; it led to attacks on Chinese nationals and the destruction of many Han shops. The unrest later spread all over Tibet and it took two months for Beijing to regain control of the situation.
In the case of Metok, there is more.
On October 13, 2020, an article in China Tibet News (in Chinese) reported that the Pai-Metok Highway from Pai in Nyingchi City to Metok would be opened on July 1, 2021.
From Nyingchi, the travel time to Metok County would be shortened from 11 to 4.5 hours; the Chinese website said: “On October 12, our reporter learned from the Huaneng Linzhi Hydropower Project Preparation Office that in order to effectively improve the current status of the transportation from Nyingchi to Metok and to effectively improve the livelihood of the villages and towns along the route, the Pai-Metok Highway, is planned to be completed on July 1, 2021.”
What is Huaneng, a dam company, doing in the area?
The answer came less than two months later, The Global Times announced China’s plan to build a large hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which becomes first the Siang and later the Brahmaputra in India.
The Metok County government confirmed that the project would be built in the Metok County, north of the McMahon Line; sources told The Global Time that “the project will be designed by the Chengdu Engineering Corp under the Power Construction Corp of China, or POWERCHINA. The Chengdu company is helping Metok to build the second highway entering the remote county.”
According to Xinhua, the hydropower stations will produce thrice the electricity of the Three Gorges Dam.
Despite these new developments, the 1959 Uprising of the Tibetan ‘masses’ still haunts Communist China.
The first-hand report of Maj SL Chibber, the Indian Consul General in Lhasa to the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi, is telling; it was clearly a revolt of the 'masses' against the Chinese occupiers.
The Chinese propaganda would like us to believe that it was the doing of the Dalai Lama and the ‘upper strata’ of the Tibetan society who rejected the Chinese occupation, it is untrue.
Chibber, who witnessed these momentous days, wrote: “In the history of movement for free Tibet the month of March, 1959, will be most historic as during this month Tibetans high and low, in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, openly challenged the Chinese rule in Tibet. They set up an organisation called – ‘Pho Mimang Ranchen Chi Chog’, meaning, ‘Tibetan Peoples Independent Organisation’, renounced the Sino-Tibetan Agreement of 1951, staged demonstrations to give vent to their anti-Chinese feelings and demanded withdrawal of the Chinese from Tibet. But this challenge, before the MIGHT OF CHINESE People’s Liberation Army, who on 20th March, 1959, started an all out offensive against the ill-organised, ill-equipped, untrained-Tibetans with artillery, mortors, machine guns and all types of automatic weapons, was short lived.”
‘Smelling danger’, the Dalai Lama secretly left Lhasa on the night of March, 17; he would reach the Indian border in the Tawang sector on March 31.
Since then, mighty China shivers every month of March.
Chibber concluded: “In brief the booms of Chinese guns and fire from their weapons, which destroyed number of buildings including religious places, large scale killing of Tibetans followed by mass arrests, departure of Dalai Lama and high-ranking Tibetan officials from Lhasa completely shattered the morale of Tibetans in general and they were left with no other alternative but to bow before the Chinese.
The Indian Consul General concluded: "The future of Tibet is dark and only a miracle can save Tibet from the clutches of the Chinese Communist Colonialists."
On March 28, 1959, the State Council (Chinese Government) dissolved the Tibet Government and transferred all its functions and powers to the Preparatory Committee for the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), using a few Tibetan puppets in the process. Today, wanting to save face, Beijing celebrates March 28 as the Serfs Emancipation Day.
It is a yearly holiday in Tibet, the day when the 'reforms' could finally be implemented, says the Chinese propaganda, explaining that the Tibetan ‘serfs’ had been liberated from feudalism and theocracy; it was simply not true.
Today, after more than 60 years, the Communist Party still lives in fear of the Tibetan masses; they are probably right, even though Marx never explained the meaning of ‘Karma’.

In Tibet, an atheist regime talks of reincarnation

The Dalai Lama in Tawang (April 1959)

My article In Tibet, an atheist regime talks of reincarnation appeared in The Asian Age/The Deccan Chronicle


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A worse contradiction is about the position of the atheist regime on the Dalai Lama’s rebirth.

China is the land of dichotomies, not to say contradictions. On March 31, 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet crossed the Indo-Tibet border in the Kameng Frontier Division, north of Tawang; he met a detachment of the Assam Rifles waiting to welcome him. He had had no choice but to flee his native land, as severe repression had taken place in Lhasa.
Three days before the Tibetan leader reached the Indian border, the Communist regime declared that the “feudal lord” had left his native land; that this would allow the serfs to be emancipated. Though thousands had died in Lhasa in the process of “emancipation”, Beijing still celebrates the massacre as the “Serfs Emancipation Day”.
On March 26, the 24-year-old Tibetan leader had sent a message to Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India: “Ever since Tibet went under the control of Red China and the Tibetan government lost its powers in 1951...”
The Dalai Lama had decided to take refuge in India — a free nation.
On March 11, 2019, the Global Times affirmed: “Sixty years since the epoch-making democratic reform in Tibet, people in the plateau region have enjoyed unprecedented human rights in history.”
The tabloid of the Communist Party added: “The democratic reform in Tibet in 1959, led by the Communist Party of China, ended the cruel serfdom system and emancipated one million Tibetan serfs, or more than 90 per cent of the region’s then population.”
The article compares the massacre of the Tibetans in Lhasa in March 1959 by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “the Abolition Movement led by former US President Abraham Lincoln, viewed as an immortal achievement for civilisation and human rights, the end of Tibet’s feudal serfdom”.
But it is not the last of the contradictions.
While proclaiming that the “Tibetan people enjoy unprecedented human rights in history”, the region has not only been closed to foreign tourists, but according to Human Rights Watch, on March 7, the Chinese authorities “staged mass rallies in Lhasa and other provincial cities”. A parade of armoured vehicles and military hardware was seen on the streets of Lhasa. Thousands of armed police and other security forces from across the region gathered to “pledge” loyalty to the party and its political objective of “comprehensive, long term stability”.
Though Beijing’s propaganda said “human rights” in Tibet have never been so good, it was announced that “24-hour patrols of some 100 police service stations in Lhasa had greatly improved the city’s peace and stability. …Not a single criminal case was reported in the palace area in the past eight years, mainly because of the police service station since 2011, which can respond to emergency calls in three minutes”.
Wang Yongpu, a police station chief working in Tibet for seven years, explained to the Global Times, “through the surveillance system, 24-hour patrols, security checks and cooperation with traffic departments, police in the service station can prevent crimes”.
The Epoch Times reported: “Having perfected facial recognition and Artificial Intelligence-enhanced surveillance systems, the Chinese regime is now applying the technology to taxis in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.”
The US-based publication quoted a report which appeared in Tibet News on March 6: “a Chinese state-run online news site, 200 new taxis were put into operation in Lhasa in February — equipped with real-time video surveillance — before they were assigned to taxi drivers. The GPS (Global Positioning System) has been upgraded from running on 2G mobile networks to 4G to optimise real-time monitoring”.
This technology was intended to “prevent drivers from violating safety regulations such as smoking and making phones calls while driving”.
So much for human rights!
The Chinese propaganda has a tragicomic side.
The reason given for banning foreign visitors visiting Tibet was given by Wu Yingjie, Tibet’s Communist Party’s secretary during the National People’s Congress (NPC) — he said that the restrictions were necessary because some visitors suffered from altitude sickness.
Where it become more grotesque is when it comes to the Dalai Lama, China’s bête noire.
Again, according to the Global Times, during an open-door discussion with the Tibetan delegation to the 13th NPC, Wu Yingjie came down heavily on the Tibetan leader: “The Tibetan people have more affection for the government. The Dalai Lama has not done a ‘single good thing’ for Tibet since he left (in 1959).” Wu added that the people of Tibet were “extremely grateful for the prosperity that the Communist Party has brought them”.
Tashi Gyaltsen, a young Tibetan grassroots delegate from Lhoka, affirmed that “there is no such thing” as adoration for the Dalai Lama among Tibetans.
This should be easy to test — let Beijing allow the Tibetan leader to visit Tibet for one week — the adulation of the Tibetans for their spiritual guru and protector will be seen by all.
Go Khok, deputy party chief and mayor of Lhasa, however, asserted that maintaining stability would be a key task for the city government this year.
A worse contradiction is about the position of the atheist regime on the Dalai Lama’s rebirth.
The Tibetan leader jokingly told Reuters: “China considers Dalai Lama’s reincarnation as something very important. They have more concern about the next Dalai Lama than me,” before adding: “In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas, one from here (India), a free country, (and) one chosen by the Chinese, then nobody will trust, nobody will respect (the one chosen by China). So that’s an additional problem for the Chinese! It’s possible, it can happen.”
A couple of years ago, a Chinese “expert” quoted by the Global Times, affirmed that it is so ridiculous to talk about reincarnation “when the 14th Dalai Lama is still alive.”
It is ridiculous, but Beijing has been working hard since years to put everything in place for when the day comes.
Already in 2007, the stage was set for the tragicomedy when China decided to implement the “Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism”.
Beijing had started preparing for the Lama’s succession: the Chinese government had decided to use the Manchu-favourite type of selection, the Golden Urn lottery, which can easily be manipulated.
Today, China is actively preparing for the post-Dalai Lama period.
On March 7, 2019, a panel discussion took place during the People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing; the Chinese-selected Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu presided. Apart from the young lama considered as “fake” by the Tibetans, a few lamas, mostly unknown to the Tibetans, met to discuss the future of Buddhism; it included, Dupkang Thupten Kedup, vice-chairman of the Buddhist Association of China, Tsemonling, a former regent of Tibet in his previous reincarnation, Gomangtsang Rinpoche, Rinchen Namgyal Rinpoche, from Qinghai province and Lodro Gyatso Rinpoche from Sakya Monastery. China would like these lamas to lead the process to find the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama.
Is it not a contradiction when an atheist regime works hard on soul reincarnation? It does not seem to disturb the apparatchiks in Beijing.

A Popular Revolt Suppressed in Blood

My article A Popular Revolt Suppressed in Blood appeared in Strategic News International

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The origin of the Tibetan luni-solar calendar, composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon, is not clear. However, many scholars attribute the 60-year cycle to India; it would have been introduced into Tibet by Chandranath and Tsilu Pandit in 1025 CE. The calendar’s main characteristic is that, like the Chinese zodiac, twelve animals are associated with the five elements, making it a cycle of six decades.
Recently we entered the Earth/Boar Year; it is worth remembering the momentous events which took place during the previous Earth/Boar Year when the Roof of the World witnessed a popular revolt.
Early March 1959, the Dalai Lama had been invited to a theatrical performance in the Chinese Army camp in Lhasa; in his memoirs the Tibetan leader recalled that on March 8, 1959, some Chinese officers called on his Bodyguard Regiment’s Commander to brief him about the function: “the Chinese authorities wanted us to dispense with the usual formality and ceremony of my visits.” No Tibetan soldiers were to accompany the Dalai Lama: “only two or three unarmed bodyguards if absolutely necessary;” the Chinese wanted “the whole affair to be conducted in absolute secrecy.”
Though the Dalai Lama accepted to go “with a minimum of fuss and to take along only a handful of staff,” it was not acceptable to the population of Lhasa. On March 10, while walking in his Summer Palace (Norbulinka or Jewel Park) the Dalai Lama heard loud noises at a distance, people “were pouring out of Lhasa and heading in our direction. They had decided to come and protect me from the Chinese. All morning their numbers grew. …By noon an estimated thirty thousand people had gathered” …it was the entire population of the Tibetan capital.
Apart from the Dalai Lama’s version, we have the first-hand account written by Major SL Chhibber, the Indian Consul General in Lhasa.
Sixty years later, reading these accounts, one is struck by the fact that March 10 ‘Uprising’ (as the Tibetans call it), was primarily a people’s movement like the Bastille Day in 1789 in France. It was an entirely spontaneous revolt with its origin in the resentment of the ‘masses’ against the occupiers.
In his report to the Ministry of External Affairs, Chhibber wrote: “In the history of movement for free Tibet the month of March 1959, will be most historic, as during this month Tibetans high and low, in Lhasa openly challenged the Chinese rule in Tibet. They set up an organisation called Pho Mimang Ranchen Chi Chog, meaning, ‘Tibetan Peoples Independent Organisation’; [they] renounced the Sino-Tibetan Agreement of 1951; staged demonstrations to give vent to their anti-Chinese feelings and demanded withdrawal of the Chinese from Tibet.”
Unfortunately on March 20, the PLA started “an all-out offensive against the ill-organised, ill-equipped, untrained-Tibetans with artillery, mortars, machine guns and all types of automatic weapons, [it] was short lived.”
A few thousand Tibetans lost their lives during the next few days.
Chhibber continued his description of the events: “His Holiness the Dalai Lama, smelling danger, left Lhasa secretly on the night of the March 17, 1959, with important members of his personal staff, three Cabinet Ministers and members of his family for Lhoka area (south of Lhasa), where at that time Khampas had full sway and from where it was easier for him to escape to India if need arose.”
The rest is history. The Dalai Lama crossed the Indian border, north of Tawang on March 31 and was received by Indian officials who gave him a letter from Prime Minister Nehru, welcoming him …as a refugee.
The popular movement had started in 1955 in Kham province of Eastern Tibet and had spread to the North in Amdo and Golok regions: “In 1955 and 1957 it took shape of an open revolt against the Chinese regime in these areas. These people, though did not succeed, but they were a constant headache to the Chinese who had to resort to aerial bombing and deploy large number of forces to subjugate the local inhabitants. During operations numbers of monasteries were destroyed and the local people suffered heavy losses,” explained Chhibber.
In March 1959, the Tibetan ‘masses’ (a term so dear to Mao Zedong), “thought it was high time for a general uprising. The Chinese did not sit quiet. …They started preparing themselves for the show down; fortified their offices and residences with sand bags, dug trenches and prepared fire positions, all cadres were issued arms and ammunition …stored rations and dig wells on their promises and increased the strength of their troops considerably in and around Lhasa.”
Chhibber commented: “The feelings were running very high against the Chinese and the public was restless and any excuse would have served to mobilize them.”
In conclusion of his March Report, the Indian Consul wrote: “The future of Tibet is dark and only a miracle can save Tibet from the clutches of the Chinese Communist Colonialists.”
Sixty years later, no miracle has taken place, though the Dalai Lama’s escape triggered the first clashes with China on the Indian border a few months later.
There is another twist to the story; since 2009, China celebrates March 28, the bloody end of the revolt in Lhasa, as the Serfs Emancipation Day; on that day, the Communist 'reforms' could finally be implemented on the Roof of the World. The Tibetan government was declared 'illegal' by Communist China as the so-called serfs had been liberated from feudalism and theocracy ...by guns.
It is sadly ironic as the March 1959 revolt was only the Tibetan masses' reaction against the occupiers.
Unfortunately, sixty years later, the 1959 ‘uprising’ has been forgotten and politically, the Dalai Lama is more isolated than ever; no nation being ready to antagonize China, which has become the second most-powerful nation of the world …and is dreaming to become the most powerful.
It is worth quoting from another Indian officer, RS Kapoor posted as the Trade Agent in Gyantse in 1959; he told Delhi: “While the heart of Tibet was bleeding the free world only made speeches. With the end of the debate on Tibet in the United Nations, Tibetans lost all hopes of their survival, stare at the sky with blank eyes and ask, where is the Buddha? How can the world witness such brutal acts on a race that has always wanted to live in peace?”
Interestingly, in January 1957, while on a visit to India, Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Premier had pointed a finger at non-existing foreigners in Lhasa: “those bent on trouble are preparing for an incident in Lhasa. These people have some armed forces. Some three temples in Lhasa have also armed forces and they want to create an incident with the People's Liberation Army there. If it happened, then there would be bloodshed.”
And bloodshed there was, but it firmly consolidated the position of the Communist regime which still controls the restive nation with an iron hand.

Tibet is a way for China to wipe its tears: Vajpayee

India has lost one of her greatest political leader, Atal Vihari Vajpayee.
I am posting is an article written for Swadesh, a Hindi journal published in Lucknow.
On October 26, 1950, just two weeks after the Chinese troops entered Eastern Tibet, Vajpayee wrote these words.
He was one of the very few Indian journalists who condemned the Chinese action; he was then responsible for several publications linked with the RSS.
I am also posting Vajpayee's intervention during is a debate in the Lok Sabha after the first Chinese attacks on the Indian border in 1959.

[Translated from Hindi]
The 'Shanti Path’ [the Path of Peace] of the 6th anniversary of the UN was not even finished when we heard of a new invasion.
The armies of Communist China were ordered to invade Tibet.
Although behind the iron curtain they [China] try to hide all news, the news of the invasion, even before being received officially from Peking, was sent by China News Agency [The Xinhua communiqué was dispatched through Hong Kong, not directly from Beijing] and it is why the world received the first news of the invasion of Tibet, not from Peking, but from London.
Some people did not believe in these news, though a few times in the past there had been rumours of invasion of this kind [in August 1950].
 So much so that the Tibetan representatives [Tsepon Shakabpa] who had arrived in India also said that they did not believe in the truth of these news.
One reason for this disbelief was that the [forthcoming] negotiations between China and Tibet.
The Indian government had arranged for the talks through the Ambassador to India of Communist China. But he declared that not Delhi but Beijing was the proper place for the talks.
The delegation of Tibetan representatives was today leaving to Peking via Calcutta.
On one side, peace talks, on the other side invasion, naturally nobody could believe it, but after the Peking government officially announced the invasion, all doubts were removed.
With the announcement of the invasion the communist government has thrown some light on its causes and its aims. Yet the causes and the language are the same as those of all invaders, that is to say, the aggressor is never attacking for egoist purposes, he attacks to liberate the people of the attacked region.
And they had to take this step to save the people from the evil conspiracy of imperialist forces.
The communist China invades also for this same reason -- to save the people of Tibet from the grip of imperialist forces, the communist armies marched in Tibet.
But the efforts it made till today for getting the membership of UN surely put on them some moral responsibility to respect the principles of UN.
China can reject it saying that it is an internal matter, but Tibet is a free country, even if at the time of imperialist China there were sovereignty in name of China over it.
Communist China which is so opposed to imperialism surely is not bound by this tradition, nor can it be a ground for declaring legal this invasion of the independent state of Tibet.
More than Tibet, Formosa is a part of China, but nobody included America would accept its invasion. If an invasion of Formosa is considered as contrary to the ideals of the UN, then how much more for Tibet?
Will the UN pay attention and help Tibet?
It is possible that the powers, trapped each one in its own interest, will not pay attention to Tibet.
The reason for the invasion of Tibet is not the discovery of uranium or the greed of the imperialist powers for it; it is an attempt to strengthen the moral of the Communist block.
The invasion of South Korea by North Korea and the initial victory over the army of UN had given a boost to the communists of all countries.
But the victory of UN has put cold water on their enthusiasm. The influence of Russia has diminished somewhat. When the question came on the UN armies crossing the 38° latitude, then China warned that if it happens then she will attack the UN armies.
But the UN did not worry and ordered its armies to get full victory.
Russia felt that with the cold war becoming hot they had to suffer defeat.  Seeing the state of North Korea, China did not have the courage to up its army against UN army. In consequence it was not possible for the Chinese armies to advance towards Formosa and Korea…
Invading Tibet is a way for China to wipe its tears.


22 December 1959
Debate in the Lok Sabha
(Intervention of Atal Bihari Vajpayee translated from Hindi)

Mr Speaker, a new situation has arisen with the letter received from the Prime Minister of China.
Our Prime Minister in his letter of November 16 had placed some alternative proposals before China. According to these proposals, China had to vacate the Indian land in Ladakh [Aksai Chin] and at the same time, it was suggested that India would not send her men to that area.
Our Prime Minister had been criticised in this House for this proposal.
We had found it objectionable; we had said that it will encourage the Chinese aggression and it will give her the opportunity of strengthening her old claims and present new claims. The answer from the Prime Minister of China only confirms this.
Our Prime Minister had suggested that China abandons the Indian land, but they answered : why should this proposal apply only to the border of Ladakh, if we go out of the land defined by the maps of India, then the Indians should go out of the land defined by our maps, they should go out of NEFA.
Mr Speaker, we tried to respect China and as a result we are  being insulted.
Instead of understanding the Prime Minister's good will, China has increased her claims, China puts claims on Uttar Pradesh, on Punjab, on Himachal Pradesh, on places which are ours by geography, by history, by tradition, by treaty. She demands a price for withdrawing from Ladakh.
We should abandon our rights to other regions.
If this is the attitude of China, then what is the basis for the hope of making an agreement with China? There should be an agreement, nobody in the country wants a war, but if we trade with China sacrificing the interests of India, if we cannot defend the honour of India, this peace will not be worth getting, it will not be a stable peace.
The Prime Minister of China answered after one month.
I think that they want to prolong this correspondence, so that they can make roads and construct airports on the land they have taken, so that they can strengthen their attack.
Shri Karam Singh [who had been taken prisoner by China in Ladakh] said in his statement that at the place where he was arrested, motorable roads are being made. War preparations are being made on the soil of India. China needs time for that. It is why this long exchange of letters.
They took one month for replying and our Prime Minister hopes that on receiving his letter they will pack up and go to Rangoon. ... I am happy that our Prime Minister refused the suggestion to go to Rangoon.
It was not a proposal to go to Rangoon, it was an invitation for Munich, they want to re-enact Munich. I am happy that our Prime Minister has refused this proposal.
But he said this afternoon in the Rajya Sabha that in the letter of the Prime Minister of China, an eagerness to meet him was expressed and he welcomed it. Is really the Prime Minister of China wanting an agreement or is the desire to meet our Prime Minister propaganda?
He wants to show the world that China wants peace, while China invades India, and India does not want peace because we are not ready to meet him.
There is a great similitude between the proposal by China and the line adopted by the Communist Party of India. In Calcutta they have repeated that the two Prime Ministers should meet and the Prime Minister of China is also saying that we should meet.
Meet for what?
After all, what is the meeting ground between our two countries? what is the basis for talks? And if the two prime ministers meet, why meet in Rangoon? If they meet, why not in Delhi?
I object to this accusation by the Prime Minister of China that in India an atmosphere is being created against the Chinese friendship.
M Speaker, there is no atmosphere against the friendship, there is an atmosphere against invasion.
As long as this attack will last, this atmosphere will persist.
We are a living people, we have self-respect and if there is trespassing on our land our reaction is necessary, nobody can stop this.
But their Prime Minister wants to make propaganda, he wants to be the divine messenger of peace, he wants to place our Prime Minister in a false position.
Now the Communists will start saying that Mr Zhou Enlai wants a meeting, but Panditji [Nehru] does not want it. If Panditji does not want a meeting, he rightly does so.
After all, what is the basis for a meeting? When there is no agreement on the facts, when there is no agreement on the principles, what is the use of meeting?
And suppose  there is a meeting and it is a failure, the result will be even more frightening. It is why the point of view of the Government is correct. Before the two prime ministers can meet, the preliminary things should be decided, we should decide what will be the basis for agreement. But as far as the preliminary  things are concerned, there is no sign in the letter of China that they want an agreement, except that they have evoked Panchsheel, they have sung the refrain of peace.

Shri Jadhav:  And they are ready  to stab us.

Shri Vajpayee: They say that we are a backward country, that we have to develop economically, but they are not ready to leave the land of India they have grabbed. Our Prime Minster has already said that the northern border of India is fixed. It has not been drawn on the map and we can discus about some details, but the entire border cannot be made a subject of discussion. But  the Chinese Prime Minister is trying to make the entire border a subject of discussion. He wants to dictate his terms as maker of our border. It is clear that the Indian government and the people of India cannot accept this situation.
But today it is said: what can we do? the Prime Minister in the Rajya Sabha said: "what can we do? Should we make war?“
Nobody wants you to make war, but I want to know : if tomorrow China advances in Longju [in NEFA], or Ladakh, or further, what will you do?

An Hon'ble Member: Negotiations.

Shri Vajpayee: No compromise can be made with an invasion, and it is why we should prepare for war. We may not start the war from our side, but if the other side is intent on war, it cannot be  avoided. But there are other ways than war.  The trade what we had with Tibet is stopped. China put restrictions on Indian trade with Tibet. Yet we did not put restrictions. We have only deployed a guard  before the Chinese Trade Agency of Kalipong. There are other Chinese trade agencies in India whose activities can be stopped. The restrictions that have been put on the Indian embassy in Peking can be put on the Chinese embassy in New Delhi. The time has come to take this step.

An Hon'ble Member: There is democracy in India.

Shri Vajpayee: Because of the Chinese attack, today we face a danger and the friends of China by repeating this slogan ”There is democracy in India“ try to make us blind to this danger.
If we want, we can also break our diplomatic relations with China; there are other means we can adopt other than waging war, and where there is a will, there is a way.
I believe that, except the [Indian] Communist Party, all the country agrees that the Chinese challenge should be dealt with firmly. It is clear that war will have to be fought, but as long as we don't take steps on time, we cannot prepare an atmosphere to face this challenge.
I have to say something else, and it is that our Foreign Affairs Ministry does not work well.
In the Rajya Sabha our Prime Minister spoke of a place named Samado. It has been printed by mistake. This was part of China but we have put claims on it.
He apologised. This type of mistake should not happen. I feel that the Foreign Ministry should be careful. China takes hold of small things like this and tries to weaken our case. In this hour of danger, the Foreign Ministry should rise to the occasion, it has not done it so far. This is necessary. Thank you.

The Dalai Lama arrives in India

Relaxing on the way

As the Dalai Lama will soon be arriving in Tawang, I post two historical documents. One is the telegram sent by the Tibetan leader to the Indian Prime Minister from Lhuntse Dzong in Southern Tibet, where the Dalai Lama had just denounced the 17-Point Agreement signed under duress in Beijing in May 1951.
The other one is Nehru's reply. It is accompanied by instructions to the Indian officials for escorting the Dalai Lama's party.

Here is the translation of the Dalai Lama's message:

[to] Pt Jawaharlal Nehru
Prime Minister of India

Ever since Tibet went under the control of Red China and the Tibetan Government lost its powers in 1951, I, my Government officers and citizens have been trying to maintain peace in Tibet but the Chinese Government has been gradually subduing the Tibetan Government.
The Tibetans have great love for and faith in Buddhism and their religion is more precious to them than their lives. In order to root out Buddhism, the Chinese published some articles in the press against Lord Buddha’s teachings and circulated them widely. This has created unhappy atmosphere amongst the Tibetans and they have started disliking intensely the Chinese Administration.
On 10.3.1959, I, members of the Kashag and other high ranking officers were invited to the Chinese Army Headquarters in Lhasa ostensibly to attend a cultural show. The people of Lhasa came to me and requested me not to attend the function as they suspected foul play. They announced openly in the streets that they would not remain any longer under China and would become independent. After this a large armed party came to my residence to guard me.
The Government of Tibet have tried their best to maintain good relations with China but the Chinese have been trying to take away powers from the Tibetan Government and in some areas they are making preparations for war.
On 17.3.1959 at 4 p.m. the Chinese fired two shells in the direction of my residence. They could not do much damage. As our lives were in danger, I and some of my trusted [word missing] manage to escape the same evening at 10 p.m. and moving south to reach Lhuntse Dzong on 26.3.1959.
India and Tibet have had religious relations for thousand years and they are like brothers without any differences. Moreover Pt. Nehru as also the Indian people are known throughout the world for their support of humanitarian causes.
In this critical situation we are entering India via Tsona. I hope that you will please make necessary arrangements for us in the Indian territory.
Confident of your kindness and with good wishes,

Sg: Dalai Lama
Tenzin Gyasto
26.3.1959.

According to the report of the Political Officer in Bomdila:

On the 27th March, 1959, Shri T.S. Murty, Assistant Political Officer, Tawang, received instructions about the possibility of the Dalai Lama seeking entry into India. He reached Chuthangmu to receive the party at 0900 hours on the 31st March, 1959.
The advance party of the Dalai Lama under a comparatively junior officer had already reached Chuthangmu on the 29th March. They stated that the main party consisting of the Dalai Lama, his family, ministers and tutors were expected to enter our territory at 1400 hours on the 31st March, that there was no sign of the Chinese pursuit and that the party was bringing a small number of porters and would be needing many more from our area.
At 1400 hours on the 31st March, the Dalai Lama and his party reached Kenze Mane [Khenzimane] which demarcates the frontier in Chuthangmu area. His Holiness was riding a yak and was received by the Assistant Political Officer, Tawang. They proceeded to the checkpost without halting at the frontier.
Dronyer Chhempu [Chenpo], Personal Assistant to the Dalai Lama met the Assistant Political Officer in the evening and it was agreed that all porters brought by the party from Tibet would be sent back and that porterage arrangements thereafter would be made by us. It was also agreed that all pistols and revolvers, except those in possession of the Dalai Lama, his family and ministers (excluding their servants), and all rifles would be handed over to us for safe custody and that these could be collected at the frontier by those members of the body guard who were to return to Tibet after escorting the Dalai Lama to the plains or that alternatively, we would keep that in our custody and obtain disposal orders from the Government. It was further decided that a list of all Tibetan officers and of entering our territory would be prepared and handed over to the Assistant Political Officer.

Nehru answered the telegram from the Dalai Lama; a reply was sent through K. L. Mehta, Advisor to the Government of Assam on April 3, 1959.

I received Your Holiness' message dated the 26th March only yesterday on my return to Delhi. My colleagues and I welcome you and send you greetings on your safe arrival in India. We shall be happy to afford the necessary facilities for you, your family and entourage to reside in India. The people of India who hold you in great veneration will no doubt accord their traditional respect to your person.
Kind regards.[Jawaharlal Nehru]

As part of the same telegram, the following instructions were issued by Subimal Dutt, Foreign Secretary to K.L. Mehta:

1- In transmitting the message, the officer concerned should also inform the Dalai Lama and his principal advisers that the Government of India are making the necessary arrangements for the Party's travel in India.
2- If the Dalai Lama wishes to halt at Bomdila or Tezpur for rest you should fall in with his wishes. We are sending P.N. Menon, formerly our Consul-General in Lhasa up to Bomdila within the next day or two. He will be in charge of the party during: their travel to destination in India. We have not yet decided where the Dalai Lama should reside but obviously Shillong, Kalimpong or Darjeeling is out of the question. We shall send you a further message about this at the earliest possible.
3- We hope you have made the necessary security arrangements. We propose sending a senior IB Officer from here. We shall also send one or two interpreters. Please let-us know if you want any other staff, which should be kept to the minimum.
4- No person, whether Indian or foreigner, should be given Inner Line permit to meet the Dalai Lama and his party. When the Dalai Lama reaches Assam, we cannot altogether prevent press correspondents from approaching him. P.N. Menon will be instructed how best to deal with them.
5- We are instructing P.N. Menon to inform the Dalai Lama orally that it would be best for him not to issue any long statements to the press here at this stage. The Dalai Lama will undoubtedly appreciate the inadvisability of saying anything which would cause embarrassment to him and to us. Similar advice will also be given to members of his party. Since no press correspondent can meet the Dalai Lama until he comes out of the NEFA area, it is not necessary to convey this advice immediately, even if it were possible to do so. We should like all our officers who will be with the Dalai Lama and his party to observe the utmost discretion in what they do or say to others.
6. [T.S.] Murti [Assistant Political Officer in Tawang] who is now in the Party should be with them until they reach their final destination in India. Instruct him accordingly.

The rest is history.
On April 17, 1959, the Dalai Lama reached Tezpur from where he issued his famous statement.

An epic journey: The day the Dalai Lama came to India

A guard of Honour by the Assam Rifles in Tawang (April 1959)

My article An epic journey: The day the Dalai Lama came to India appeared in Rediff.com

Here is the link...

The Tibetan spiritual leader's upcoming visit to Tawang, the district through which he first entered India, is probably behind China's new desire to claim the area.
Claude Arpi recalls the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959 and explains why His Holiness will once again receive a grand welcome, whether Beijing likes it or not.

China often double-speaks. At a press conference, a day before the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC), Fu Ying, the articulate spokesperson of the Chinese legislature, said that China and India which have over the past decades witnessed rapid development of bilateral trade, should focus on enhancing mutual understanding and boosting cooperation rather than dwelling on disputes.
She forgot that just a few days earlier, Beijing planted a controversy in the Indian press. One of the mainstream Indian newspapers wrote, China ready to cede land for part of Arunachal Pradesh?; China wanted back Tawang: “This could pave the way for a settlement of the India-China boundary dispute” said to Dai Bingguo, one of the senior-most Chinese diplomats under President Hu Jintao. The article does not mention that it is the same Dai, who in 2005 drafted the Agreement between India and China ‘On the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question’. Had Dai, the then Special Representative for the border negotiations with India, forgotten the content of the 2005 agreement which referred to Tawang: “In reaching a boundary settlement, the two sides shall safeguard due interests of their settled populations in the border areas.” It clearly meant that Tawang area, which is heavily populated, would not be ceded or exchanged.
This is what China had agreed then.
The upcoming visit of the Dalai Lama to Tawang is probably the reason for this new sudden claim. Though time and again India has said that the Dalai Lama is an honoured guest in India and is free to go wherever he wants, Beijing aggressively threatened India of dire consequence if the Tibetan leader is allowed to visit the area.
A firsthand account of the Dalai Lama arrival in Tawang in 1959
More interesting than endlessly arguing with China, is to look at some historical facts.
On March 17, 1959, the Dalai Lama left Lhasa in the dead of night in dramatic circumstances.
On March 26, 1959, he reached Lhuntse Dzong, a few days march from the McMahon Line, the border between India and Tibet.
The Tibetan temporal leader wrote to the Indian Prime Minister to seek refuge in India: “Ever since Tibet went under the control of Red China and the Tibetan Government lost its powers in 1951, I, my Government officers and citizens have been trying to maintain peace in Tibet but the Chinese Government has been gradually subduing the Tibetan Government.”
The Dalai Lama added: “In this critical situation we are entering India via Tsona. I hope that you will please make necessary arrangements for us in the Indian territory. Confident of your kindness…”
Tsona is the last town, north of the border.
Upon receiving the message, Delhi took immediately measures to welcome the Tibetan leader and receive the party (his close family, four of his Cabinet ministers and some attendants and bodyguards) at the first Indian post at Chuthangmu, north of Tawang, then part of Kameng Frontier Division.
Nehru replied to the Dalai Lama: “My colleagues and I welcome you and send you greetings on your safe arrival in India. We shall be happy to afford the necessary facilities for you, your family and entourage to reside in India. The people of India who hold you in great veneration will no doubt accord their traditional respect to your person.”
Since that day, the Indian Government and people have considered the Dalai Lama an honoured guest in the Land of the Buddha.
I have recently come across a “Top Secret report on the entry of His Holiness the Dalai Lama into India”; it describes the epic arrival of the Dalai Lama in India.
There was no doubt for anybody (including Beijing) that Chuthangmu/Khenzimane, on the McMahon Line was (and is) the border, with areas south being part of Indian territory.
The report said: “On the March 27, 1959, Shri T.S. Murty, Assistant Political Officer [APO], Tawang, received instructions about the possibility of the Dalai Lama seeking entry into India. He reached Chuthangmu to receive the party at 09:00 hours on the March 31.”
At that time the Assam Rifles (AR) post was located four or five days walk north of Tawang, famous for having the largest Indian Buddhist monastery.
On March 29, an advance party, under a junior Tibetan officer, reached Chuthangmu; the AR platoon was informed that the main party “was expected to enter our territory at 1400 hours on the March 31, [and] that there was no sign of the Chinese pursuit.”
The messengers carried the original letter of the Dalai Lama’s letter to Nehru which was translated and transmitted to Shillong and Delhi via wireless.
At the appointed time, “the Dalai Lama and his party reached Khenzimane which demarcates the frontier in Chuthangmu area. His Holiness was riding a yak and was received by the APO, Tawang [Murty]. They proceeded to the checkpost without halting at the frontier.”
The Tibetans knew where the border was. Everyone in the party was so relieved that the Dalai Lama was now safe in India.
In the evening, when the Lord Chamberlain met the APO “it was agreed that all porters brought by the party from Tibet would be sent back and that porterage arrangements thereafter would be made by us. It was also agreed that all pistols and revolvers, except those in possession of the Dalai Lama, his family and ministers (excluding their servants), and all rifles would be handed over to us for safe custody...,” noted the report. A list of the members of the Party was given to Murty, a Chinese-speaking officer.
The next day at 9 am, the APO was summoned by the Dalai Lama. The circumstances of the flight were discussed: “The policy of the Chinese was becoming increasingly anti-religious; the masses of Tibet were restive and he was no longer able to make them put up with the Chinese rule; the Chinese had attempted to endanger his person; Tibet should be free; his people would fight to win their freedom; he was confident that India’s sympathies are with the Tibetans.”
The same day (April 2), the party moved to Gorsam Chorten (Stupa) located near Ziminthang, south of the border. At 3 pm, the Dalai Lama called Murty again, he was curious to know “if he had received any news of international developments in regard to his escape, especially the line adopted by India, the UK and the USA in this regard. The APO said that he had no information.”
The next day the party moved to Shakti; after crossing the main bridge, they proceeded on the other side of the Namjiang chu river; the party accompanied by the AR finally reached Lumla, the first large village between the border and Tawang on April 3.
Har Mander Singh, the Political Officer (PO) responsible for the Kameng Frontier Division had left Tawang in the morning and reached Lumla in the evening: “The mother, sister and 12 years old brother of the Dalai Lama accompanied by 12 servants had reached Lumla from the other side a couple of hours ahead of us. I called on the mother and assured her of Government’s protection”, noted Har Mander Singh.
The PO further reported: “I received him [the Dalai Lama] and took him to his room. We discussed about his journey beyond Lumla.” Singh took the opportunity to acquaint himself with Dalai Lama’s the senior officers and personal staff: “Two of the three Shapes (ministers) who are accompanying the Dalai Lama arrived in the afternoon. The third Shape who is accompanied by his family and the two tutors of the Dalai Lama are travelling a stage behind.”
As the PO held his first formal meetings with the Tibetan ministers, a messenger brought a letter from a Bhutanese official posted in Tashigong not far from Lumla, in Bhutan. The missive stated that Bhutan was prepared to allow the Dalai Lama to pass through Tashigong district. Singh remarks: “I was rather taken aback to find that the Officer Commanding [of the local police platoon] had apparently been in touch with the Bhutan authorities to obtain passage for the Dalai Lama through [Bhutan].” It was later found that the OC had “exceeded his authority and gone over the PO’s/APO’s heads.”
On April 4, a ceremony was organized in the morning for the Dalai Lama to bless the local Monpa population of Lumla area.
After the ceremony, Singh went to the Dalai Lama’s room. To save face, the Bhutanese officials asked for an audience to say that in fact “it would be preferable if His Holiness would travel through the Indian territory during his entire journey.” That settled the issue.
The entire party left Lumla the next day (April 4) at 8 am: “During the journey the Dalai Lama asked questions about the tribes in the Division, the schools and the system of education, agriculture and self-sufficiency and medium of instructions to which I replied suitably,” wrote Har Mander Singh.
When he was alone with the PO, the Dalai Lama asked him, “although it was a delicate matter for India, he would like us to consider whether it was possible to give any kind of help to the Khampas and Tibetan troops fighting for the Tibetan cause.”
The PO answered that India was always prepared to give First Aid to the injured and the sick at the border check-posts: “The Government is sympathetically inclined towards genuine refugees, particularly women and children seeking asylum in India.”
The Dalai Lama informed the PO that he would like to spend a few days in Tawang and “a much longer period in Bomdila to recuperate from the strain of his journey before going down to the plains.”
Har Mander Singh readily agreed.
On April 5, the Dalai Lama told the PO that he had learnt from the radio that “fighting had broken out between the Chinese and the Khampas some 60 miles South of Lhasa. This area was inaccessible to the mechanized transport and was ideal for guerilla type of warfare. He was, therefore, confident that the Chinese would not be able to over-power the Khampas in this area.”
The party, which left at 7 am, attended the reception arranged by the Tawang Monastery en route and arrived in Tawang at noon.
The rest is history.
In Tawang, the Dalai Lama was given a guard of honour by the Assam Rifles, and could finally take some rest. Though the guard of honour infuriated the Chinese, they did not mention that Tawang was ‘Chinese territory’. It is only much later that Beijing started claiming these areas as Chinese. This was clearly an afterthought, a bargaining chip for their occupation of the Aksai Chin plateau.
As he arrives in Tawang 58 years later, the Dalai Lama will again receive a grand welcome, whether Beijing likes it or not.
The people of India still hold him in great veneration.

The First Days in Exile: a Letter from the Dalai Lama to Nehru

Tibetan road workers in the Himalaya

A few months ago, I posted on this blog, the report from the Government of India about the first days of the Dalai Lama in India in March/April 1959.
During the following months, the Tibetan leader was followed in exile by thousands of Tibetan refugees.
The situation soon became difficult to handle for the Indian Government as well as for the Dalai Lama's administration.
I am posting here extracts from Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of The Dalai Lama. It shows the situation as the Dalai Lama saw it evolving at the end of 1959 and early 1960.
A letter from the Tibetan leader to Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister is also posted.
Eventually, the Dalai Lama shifted to his new quarters in Dharamsala in April 1960.

From Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of The Dalai Lama

In December, I made the six-hour journey down to Delhi once more, this time as the first leg of a new pilgrimage. I wanted to spend more time at the places I had visited at the beginning of I957. On my way I called on the Prime Minister once more. I was somewhat anxious of what he might have to say to me on account of the UN resolution and I half expected him to be annoyed. In fact, he congratulated me warmly. I began to see that, despite his occasional heavy-handedness, he was a man of great magnanimity. And once again, I was reminded of the meaning of the word 'democracy'. Even though I had rejected his opinion, there was no change whatever in his attitude towards the Tibetans. As a result, I felt more disposed than ever to listen to him. This was exactly contrary to my experience in China. Nehru did not smile much. He would sit quietly listening with that tremulous lower lip protruding slightly, before making his reply, which would always be frank and honest. Above all, he gave me complete freedom to follow my own conscience. The Chinese, on the other hand, had always been full of smiles and deceit.
…From Delhi I proceeded to Bodh Gaya. Whilst there, I received a deputation of sixty or more Tibetan refugees who were also making a pilgrimage. A very moving moment followed when their leaders came to me and pledged their lives in the continuing struggle for a free Tibet.
…Shortly after returning to Mussoorie, I learned that the Indian Government had plans to move me to permanent accommodation at a place called Dharamsala. This was unexpected news and quite alarming. I found Dharamsala on the map and discovered that it was another hill station, like Mussoorie, but in a considerably more remote location.
…In the meantime, I made the first of many-visits to the northern provinces, where thousands of my people were now engaged on road building. I was heartbroken when I saw them. Children, women and men were all working side by side in gangs: former nuns, farmers, monks, officials, all thrown together. They had to endure a full day's hard physical toil under a mighty sun, followed by nights crammed into tiny tents. Nobody was yet properly acclimatised to the conditions and even though it was a bit cooler than in the transit camps, heat and humidity still exacted a frightening toll. The air was fetid and thick with mosquitoes. As a result, sickness was universal and often fatal, thanks to the already weakened state of people's constitutions. Worse still, the work itself was quite risky. Much of it was done on steep mountain-sides and the dynamite they used claimed its own share of casualties.
...Even today, quite a few old people carry scars from this terrible labour and are maimed and crippled. And although now the fruit of their labours is clearly visible, at the time there were moments when the whole venture seemed pointless. It took only one fierce downpour of rain to wash away their efforts in a slick of red mud. Yet for all this, despite their desperate situation, the refugees showed me deep, personal respect and listened closely when I said that it was vital for us to remain optimistic. I was very moved.
...These first visits to the road camps made me aware of a new problem, however. The children of the roadworkers were suffering badly from malnutrition and their mortality rate was very high. So I contacted the Indian Government, which hurriedly organised a new transit camp dedicated specifically to their needs. At the same time, an initial batch of fifty children was sent to Mussoorie, where the first of our schools had been set up.

While he was in pilgrimage in Bodh Gaya, the Dalai Lama sent a detailed letter about the terrible situation of the refugees.
Apparently, the Indian Government acted immediately on the Tibetan leader suggestions/demands: on February 1, 1960, the first refugees were resettled in Bylakuppe (Karnataka).

A letter from the Dalai Lama to Jawaharlal Nehru about the rehabilitation of Tibet refugees in India as published in the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (Series II, Volume 57)

SECRET/PERSONAL

Bodhgaya
January 30, 1960.

Your Excellency,
I hope that you are enjoying good health, in spite of your heavy and arduous duties of State. I am sorry to encroach upon your precious time but knowing your great sympathy for myself and my people, I venture to do so without further delay.

2. It is now almost a year since I came to India for asylum, and several thousand Tibetans followed me. You personally, and the Indian Government and people, have all shown us the greatest sympathy and regard during the time of our travail, and have given invaluable help in looking after such a large number of refugees despite their preoccupations with a multitude of other important and pressing problems. I need not say how deeply grateful myself and my followers have been to yourself and the Government and people of India for their sympathy and great assistance.

3. It is, however, my fervent desire that the bulk of the Tibetan refugees in India should not remain a permanent burden on the Government of India, nor on the various relief committees who have been helping them in various ways so far. I feel that since the stay of these refugees in India would now unfortunately seem likely to be for an indefinite period, steps should be initiated without further loss of time for their permanent rehabilitation so that as many of them as possible may within a short period be able to become self-supporting. A few thousand Tibetans are already doing road work in Sikkim and perhaps some more may be receiving opportunities for manual work elsewhere. While this has no doubt helped somewhat to relieve the problem of those Tibetan refugees for the time being, I feel that merely engaging these refugees on manual work against wages in Governmental construction projects may not fulfil the ultimate need for their permanent or semi-permanent resettlement.

4. In the case of monks, I am extremely grateful for the kind decision made by the Government of India to establish two camps at Buxa and Dalhousie and to support them in order that they may continue their religious studies and practices for the sake of keeping the Tibetan faith and culture alive in friendly India even if, as seems to be unfortunately the possibility, it should be destroyed under the onslaught of Chinese Communism in my own country.

5. What I say below would apply to the vast majority of Tibetan refugees who are laymen, or not high lamas, who should be enabled to stand on their own feet through some modern vocations.

6. Among the Tibetan refugees are many who had engaged themselves in pastoral activities in their own country. They would feel at home in similar work in India. The cultivators, I suggest, may be settled on agricultural land. There are several for whom sheep or horse-breeding can prove to be useful and customary vocations. Quite a number can do forest work.
I earnestly trust that India with its vast area may be able to provide some opportunities for all these categories of Tibetan refugees, by allotting to them some agricultural land and some facilities for breeding sheep and horses in suitable places. Some virgin forest land would also be very helpful for the settlement of some of the refugees who can initially clear the forests and simultaneously do some timber business, and later on cultivate the cleared areas. A number of Tibetans are good at handicrafts or small-scale industries, and may be enabled to utilise their skill to advantage. There are yet others for whom trade has been a traditional occupation. Some encouragement in this field, for example the grant of special licences, opportunities to invest whatever money some of them may possess, etc., would greatly benefit these persons and render them self-supporting.

7. As far as I know, there are at present approximately 13,000 Tibetan refugees who came to India since March last year. Besides, there are about 8000 Tibetans of the poorer classes who had been in India earlier in the usual course but who could not return to Tibet due to the changed conditions there, and now have become destitutes and refugees. Thus there may be about 21,000 Tibetans altogether at present in India, who are in great need of some opportunities for semi-permanent rehabilitation. I give below a rough breakdown of this total number of refugees, categorised broadly under different vocations which may be suitable for them:-
Total number of refugees: 21,000 approx.

Deduct

1.    Monks and others whom the Govt. of India have already kindly agreed to support:-

(a) Monks at Buxa    1500
(b) Monks at Dalhousie    300 appr.
(c) Aged monks and aged laymen at Dalhousie    700 appr.

2. Self-supporting    500 appr.

Total    3000

Remaining number: 18,000 approx.
Categorisation:

(a) For vocational training    2000 appr.
(b) Young persons (below 20 years of age) for school, etc. education    2000 appr.
(c) Able bodied persons who can be suitably settled as:   
Cultivators    9000 appr. Herdmen (including horse and sheep breeding work)    3000 appr. Forest Workers  2000 appr.

Total    18000

(These are only very approximate figures, intended to serve as a working basis for consideration of rehabilitation schemes. The exact figures would have to be determined after a census is completed and also with reference to the extent of the facilities which it may be possible for the Government of India kindly to provide-under the various categories.)    

8. In addition, I understand that some 4,000 to 5,000 Tibetans who had entered Nepal are wanting to come to India and settle in this country. I would request that they may kindly be allowed to do so if they ask for facilities to stay in India and be resettled.

9. After careful deliberation, I am convinced that the time has come when I must request you for your help in offering these several thousand refugees some opportunities to settle down semi-permanently in India and live more or less like a community with some regular occupations. The places where they are so settled might as far as possible be near to one another.

10. I do sincerely hope that you would very kindly consider my request sympathetically, so that permanent or semi-permanent rehabilitation measures can commence at an early date. I have only indicated the broad lines along- which I would request you to consider this rehabilitation problem. I shall be most grateful if the details could be worked out by competent authorities in the Government of India, for the purpose of implementation. I shall be able to nominate some experienced officers of mine, to assist the Government of India in this matter, since their services will be of help to all concerned.

11. I have had fairly long discussions on this subject with Shri Apa. B. Pant, Political Officer in Sikkim, who was kind enough to visit me at Varanasi. I found that his views in regard to the need for rehabilitation of these refugees are not at variance with my own, which I have tried to indicate above. I do not wish to burden you with too long a letter and have, therefore, taken the liberty of requesting the Political Officer to explain to you and to the officers concerned in the Government of India, in greater detail, the rehabilitation needs as I have tried to visualise from the point of view of the Tibetans. The greatest need, I-venture to suggest, is to settle these refugees as early as possible in a manner that would enable them to live like a community and to earn their living through normal work.

12. Until such time as permanent measures can be implemented, I hope that the Government of India and the Central Relief Committee would continue the kind assistance they have been giving. I would also request that the question of rehabilitating the 8,000 Tibetans referred to in pare 7 above, (they are mostly in the Darjeeling/Kalimpong area) may kindly be sympathetically taken up at an early date. These Tibetans are in a dire plight and I understand many of them have been begging for their living.

13. During my recent stay at Sarnath and Bodh Gaya, I have come to know that there are some one thousand or more Tibetans at present in these two places, 'who are in an extremely pitiable condition, and trying to live by begging. These persons had come from Western Tibet, through Nepal, and did not go to any refugee camp. I fear that in the summer season they will suffer badly unless settled in a suitable place. May I request that the problem of settling these Tibetans may also kindly be considered urgently?
With apologies for having to trouble you with my woes, and with my profound regards and best wishes,

Yours sincerely,
DALAI LAMA