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

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

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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.

A New Road to Bhutan

The Arunachal Pradesh Gaon Bura Association (village headmen) has requested the King of Bhutan to complete a portion of the road linking Tawang district of Arunachal to the Dragon Kingdom. 
That would be a welcome development. 
Tawang area and Eastern Bhutan have always had friendly cultural contacts.
Had not the ancestors of the 'Monpa' Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1742) migrated from Bhutan?
I quote here from my book The McMahon Line Saga: 

The First Lightfoot Expedition (1936)

One question was bothering the Government in Delhi: where is the frontier between Tashigang’s district of Bhutan and the Balipara Frontier Tract? The question came for discussion in 1933 and two years later, it was finally agreed between the two Governments that a joint team of officers would inspect the ground. This gave the pretext for the first visit to Tawang by a British officer after the 1914 border Agreement.
Captain G. Lightfoot, the Political Officer in Balipara spent five days in Tawang (from April 10 to 14, 1936); he also visited Lumla where the negotiations with the Bhutanese took place. The settlement of the Central Monpa boundary was eventually successfully concluded.
Lightfoot did not have at that time any special orders from his government to look into the presence of the Tibetan administration in the area.
Lightfoot’s report dealt mainly with the question of the boundary with Bhutan. The presence of the Tibetans was however mentioned.
On his return there was an immediate reaction from the Assam Government.
The Chief Secretary wrote to the Government of India May 29, 1936, pointing out “the authority of the two Tsona  Dzongpons Ragashah and Gaden did not extend south of the Manda-la and Bomdila Line.”
He also informs us that of the Rs. 5,000 posa [tribute], Rs. 1,122 is sent by the Tawang Monastery to Lhasa where the amount is paid to Drepung Monastery and Rs.522 retained by the Tibetan Government. The balance of Rs. 3,878 is divided among the Dzongpons of Tawang and Tsona Dzongs.
The location of the Bhutan-Tawang boundary was subsequently entered on the Survey of India quarter-inch sheet maps.
The simple fact of discussing the border with Bhutan, west of Tawang was a proof that the British had decided to reassert their rights accrued from the 1914 Agreement.
Lightfoot also took the opportunity to inform the local representative of the Tsona Dzongpons that the area was Indian and the Monpas were British citizens.

Two years earlier, the area had been visited by the famous British botanist Frank Ludlow and his colleague George Sheriff. It was then the shortest and easiest way to reach Tawang from India:

We reached Trashigong [Tashigang] on the 2nd March [1936] and were received with great hospitality by our good friend the Dzongpon whom we had met in 1934. In his early days he had been a mendicant monk, and had travelled extensively in Bhutan and Tibet. Then, abandoning his vagabond life, he had settled in eastern Bhutan where his administrative ability was soon recognized, and he became governor of an important frontier district.
At Trashigong we received a present of two maunds of fresh butter from His Highness the Maharaja, and one of a maund from the Dzongpon, so we did not suffer from a deficiency of fats in our diet. This supply lasted for many months, and never became rancid. We were informed that no preservative was used in its preparation, that it was washed thoroughly, and that it would keep fresh until we had finished it. We were skeptical, but fresh it remained. Why, I cannot explain.
Lumsden had many patients during the three days we spent at Trashigong. Goitre was very prevalent, also leprosy, and there were several cases of cataract.

...We returned to Trashigong on the 18th March and left the following day for the valley of the Nyam Jang Chu. A steep descent of a thousand feet brought us to a fine chain suspension bridge over the Dangme Chu, or Manas river. This bridge is approximately 200 feet long, 6 feet broad, and hangs 50 feet above the river. The footway and sides are of bamboo matting to permit the passage of animals such as ponies and cattle. The iron links of the chains are a foot in length, and the chains themselves are attached to wooden blocks built into masonry piers at either end. This is the only chain suspension bridge I have ever seen in Bhutan, but there are several in Tibet. There is one, for instance, over the Tawang Chu; a second spans the Sutlej at Toling; and in former days a third bridged the mighty Tsangpo at Chaksam near Lhasa. Who forged the iron links of these chains? The answer to this question I have never discovered. The local inhabitants are entirely ignorant of their history.

More recently a problem cropped up about the border between Bhutan and Tawang district. Bhutanese officials visited Tawang in order to get a road rectified; according to the Tashigang's Dzongda (DC) it encroached on Bhutan's territory.
The Bhutanese newspaper Kuensel reported:

A visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India by the dzongda [District Commissioner] and some gewog officials helped to resolve the issue
District officials in the neighbouring Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh have agreed to rectify the road construction that has encroached Bhutanese soil in Dongshingma, Yalang gewog, Trashiyangtse district administration officials say.
Trashiyangtse dzongda Sangay Duba and gewog officials from Yalang and Toedhtsho visited Tawang, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh [sic], a few weeks ago, where the agreement was reached.
“We hadn’t met our neighbouring district officials before, so our visit was more of a courtesy call,” Dzongda Sangay Duba said. “We also apprised them of some issues, including encroachment at Dongshingma.”
The international boundary office in Thimphu earlier reported that a road construction from the Indian side had entered Bhutanese soil by around 10m.
“When a team from Toedtsho and Yalang gewogs visited local officials in Bongling to resolve the issue, our team was told the issue be taken up with Tawang,” Toedtsho gewog officials said.
The team was also told by locals that the encroachment was accidental.  They reasoned contractor’s discrepancy during construction as the cause for encroachment.
“To resolve this issue, they’ll probably have to discuss among themselves to verify the alignment,” dzongda Sangay Duba said. “If our presence is needed at the site to rectify the alignment, they may draw our attention.”
The team also learnt that the deputy commissioner (DC) in Tawang wasn’t even aware of the encroachment.  The letter, the dzongkhag administration had written and sent more than a month ago, had not reached Tawang.
“Our letter hadn’t reached Tawang. I don’t know if we got the address correct,” Sangay Duba said. “But we handed the DC a copy.”
Tawang has also been informed to apprise its people to refrain from entering other parts of Bhutan via Trashiyangtse without possession of valid immigration documents.
Toedtsho gup Dechen Wangdi said that people from Tawang would not be allowed to travel beyond Chazam in Trashigang without valid documents.  This was to prevent Tawangpas from getting stranded in Bhutan.
Tawangpas, wishing to travel to other parts of Bhutan, can enter only from designated entry points in Samdrupjongkhar and Phuentsholing.
Meanwhile, dzongkhag officials said that no border disputes have been reported from Bumdeling, which shares a border with China. “Our people are monitoring the boundary pillar and, according to their report, everything is fine,” Sangay Duba said.
The international boundary office is also following up on a missing border pillar KT-2, between Buri in Tawang and Jangphutse under Teodtsho gewog in Trashiyangtse.

Let us hope that the King of Bhutan will agree to the request from the Arunachal Government and the village headmen. It could help dis-enclave Tawang district which today depends of the road presently widened by the Border Road Organization.
 
Arunachal body appeals to Bhutan to complete Lumla-Tashigang Road
Lumla , Thu, 22 Nov 2012 ANI
Lumla, Nov 22 (ANI): The Tawang unit of the powerful Arunachal Pradesh Gaon Bura Association has urged the King of Bhutan to give permission to build the Bhutan portion of the Lumla-Tashigang Road.
The demand comes even as the Arunachal Pradesh Government led by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has taken the initiative to construct the Lumla-Tashigang Road.
The Indian government of late has shown keen interest to build the Lumla-Tashigang Road to reduce the distance between Tawang, which houses the world-famous Tawang Monastery, and Guwahati, the gateway to North East India, by about 200 km and travel time by almost six hours.
Currently, it takes around 15 hours to travel from Tawang to Guwahati via Bhalukpong and Tezpur, a distance of about 600 km.
The road is not fair-weather because of Sela pass located at an altitude of 13,700 feet while the 400 km Tawang-Lumla-Tashigang would be a laissez-faire road and help reopen the age-old traditional border trade between the people of Bhutan and Tawang district.
The district GBs led by president Kota Lama, in a memorandum, has pleaded with the Bhutan King for permission to rebuilding of hardly 10 km road which would complete the road.
Pointing out that the people of Bhutan and the Monpas of Tawang district have the same religion, culture and traditions, the GBs said that since olden days the people of Tawang used to visit religious places, like Gombay Kora, Durang Chorten, Gonja Ney, Tango Ney, Thimpu Dzongkha etc. in Bhutan while the Bhutanese used to visit for pilgrimage to Tawang Monastery, Gorsam Chorten, Zangdopari Gompa, Taksang Gompa, Urgelling Gompa, Khinmay Gompa, Lhu-gyepu Phobrang (Muktur), Thongmin Gompa, Manma-Gyalam Ney, Thanga-Fe Ney, Banga Jang Ney, Sarong Gompa, Changbu Gompa, Gomshin Ney etc with great difficulties by undertaking foot march for days together.
It said road connectivity would facilitate easy movement of people from both the countries.
The opening of Lumla-Tashigang road would also be useful for the Indian Army guarding the border, said Tawang District Seva Dal chief organizer Lobsang Dawa, while appreciating the CM for his assurance on reopening of the road soon in his address during the recent Tawang festival in presence of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
The proposed STOL (Short take off a and landing) airport at Lumla would be a boon for security of the nation as Lumla's weather remains conducive for air operation, commented Lumla circle anchal chairperson Lobsang Yonten.
Yonten's comment supports the recent statement of Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne that the outcome of 1962 Chinese aggression would have been different had India used air power.
Attn: News Editors/News Desks: The views in the above article are those of Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Editor-in-Chief of the Arunachal Front. By Pradeep Kumar (ANI)