Dilip Simeon's blog

On March 10th, 1959, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans had banded together around the Norbulingka (the summer palace of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in Lhasa) to revolt, in defiance of the Chinese invasion, a decade earlier. This peaceful protest was violently crushed by the Chinese.  China’s invasion of Tibet began a decade before the Uprising day.  Communism had barely gained full control of mainland China when it turned its voracious appetite on Tibet - without any provocation. Troops from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) invaded eastern Tibet and captured Chamdo, the headquarters of the Governor-General of Eastern Tibet on 19th October 1950. On 11th November 1950, the Tibetan government protested against Chinese aggression to the United Nations Organisation, but the Steering Committee of the General Assembly moved to postpone the issue and gave Tibet no protection... https://freetibet.org/news-media/na/march-10th-%E2%80%93-tibetan-uprising-day More posts on Tibet

The Tibet issue played a major role in precipitating the India-China war of 1962. There were localised skirmishes along the border, but these began to be seen in a more ominous light by China in the wake of the Tibetan revolt of 1959 followed by the exile of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to India. The setting up of Indian posts and increased patrolling on our borders were seen as part of a sinister Indian design to subvert Chinese rule in Tibet. The status of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan issue have remained a shadow over India-China relations even though New Delhi has recognised Chinese sovereignty over Tibet and has under-played official relations with the Dalai Lama. The Tibet government-in-exile is allowed to function at Dharamsala but is not recognised by the Indian government. For China, Tibet is a “core issue” just as Taiwan and Xinjiang are. During the tenure of the Narendra Modi government, there have been instances of open courtship of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Its ‘P...

A fascinating pictorial account of an iconic pilgrimage made 25 years ago. It was put together  by Deb Mukharji, a retired civil servant who embodies India's deepest ethical traditions and has never flinched from a call to action. Deb's abiding Hindu faith is in stark contrast to those who promote and espouse hatred and division in the name of Hindutva The Ultimate Pilgrimage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsXfTS5o2c&feature=youtu.be In his professional career Deb Mukharji was a member of the Indian Foreign Service and retired as ambassador to Nepal in 2001.  Mukharji's interests include trekking and photography. He has visited the Kailash Manas region three times, in 1981 (when the route to Kailash across Lipu lekh was reopened after several decades), 1993 and 2002.  His book  Mount Kailash and Manasarovar: Visions of the Infinite ; (2009) is an archive of beautiful photographs and erudite commentary.  His other publications include:  Mag...

Every year on 10 March, Nyarong Atti spends the day praying for Tibetans around the world. He offers  pujas,  or prayers, to those who, like him, fled to India after the People’s Liberation Army crushed protesters in Lhasa. The crackdown ended a fledgling rebellion against Chinese rule and sent the Dalai Lama into exile. Thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Dalai Lama’s palace in Lhasa 60 years ago on Sunday, fearing a Chinese plot to kidnap or assassinate the leader. Chinese forces had occupied the Himalayan region nine years earlier and formed an uneasy alliance with the Dalai Lama, but tensions had been building. By 17 March 1959 Chinese artillery was aimed at the palace, and a few days later troops opened fire, killing thousands. By the end of the month,  China had dissolved the Tibetan government and the Dalai Lama had escaped, smuggled out of the city disguised as a Chinese soldier. For Atti, 87, who was among those fighting against Chinese rule, the anniversar...

NB: The Dalai Lama (whom I hold in the highest regard); has now begun passing judgements on India's partition, which he should not have done without ascertaining scholarly opinion other than that of the reigning common sense. He now claims that India's partition was a result of  Nehru's selfish refusal to accept the Gandhi Plan (that proposed to offer Prime Ministership to M.A. Jinnah). I don't know whether His Holiness has studied the historical record but this (with suitable ideological changes) is also the refrain of the Sangh Parivar and other extremists who like to substitute history with propaganda. Here's Modi in 2014 R Prasannan: Drunk on the dregs of Nehruvian history Did not British machinations, the heavily communalised atmosphere and Jinnah's insistence on the Pakistan demand make any difference? Since this matter keeps cropping up again and again, I will provide some references (and add material later) for those who can be bothered to study ...

After having alienated the Dalai Lama, India also seems to have marginalised another tall Buddhist leader, the Karmapa. He had gone to the United States for three months last year and has now refused to return. With the 14th Dalai Lama turning 83 earlier this month, India feels the need to cultivate influential monks to ensure Tibetan unity and support for its position on the Tibetan leader’s succession.  A disputed succession would divide Tibetans politically and determine the direction of their struggle. It is not clear whether the heads of the various Tibetan Buddhist sects would defer to a child Dalai Lama, whether he reincarnates in India or China.  It also remains unclear whether the Tibetan monks can be used by India on the Tibet issue. For this, India needs the support of the Karmapa - head of the largest Tibetan Buddhist sect, the Kagyu. New Delhi, however, may have already lost influence over him.  The 17th Karmapa’s position is disputed. While the Da...

Tashi Wangchuk received a sentence of five years in prison on charges of “inciting separatism”. His crime: advocating for the protection of Tibetan language. Regardless of China’s obligations to protect the Tibetan language under their own constitution, Tashi’s calls for the right to learn, read, write, and speak Tibetan freely were ignored. Instead, Tashi Wangchuk has been slapped with a five year sentence – a reflection of China’s racist policies against Tibetans.  Read our (SFT) full statement  here . Tashi has not given up hope. As he appeals the verdict, here are two simple things you can do to support the global campaign: Sign the petition , addressed to the five governments who attempted to observe Tashi’s trial – the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada – and urge them to press China for Tashi Wangchuk's immediate and unconditional release. Write to your elected leaders  and ask them to make an urgen...

A Tibetan language activist who appeared in a New York Times video has been put on trial for separatism in proceedings dismissed as a “sham” by rights groups, a sign of increasingly hardline attitudes towards government critics. Tashi Wangchuk pleaded not guilty to the charges of “inciting separatism” during the four-hour trial in the western Chinese city of Yushu, where the state’s main piece of evidence against him was the nine-minute video, according to his lawyer, Liang Xiaojun. The activist was detained two years ago after appearing in the video where he criticised policies towards Tibetan language education, attempted to sue the local government and tried to entice China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, to report on his concerns. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, and the judge said he would deliver a verdict at a later date. China’s Communist party-controlled courts have a conviction rate of more than 99%. Tashi had advocated for greater use of Tibetan in edu...

Prayer doesn’t bring a peaceful world. We can pray for a thousand years and nothing will happen I am a Buddhist, I have a daily practice of prayer but I do not believe prayer brings a peaceful world. We can keep praying for a thousand years and nothing will happen. We should be realistic. If you have the opportunity to meet the Buddha or Jesus Christ, ask them to bring peace to this world and they will certainly ask you, who creates violence? If god created violence, then yes, it’s relevant to appeal to god. I am certain that Buddha and Jesus Christ would tell us, you have created the problem, so it’s your responsibility to solve it. We are all social animals and compassion, care and concern for others brings us together. Animals may be violent but only human beings make war. However, this may be changing. In the early part of the 20th century, when one nation declared war on the other, every citizen joined the war effort, without asking questions. This has no longer been the ca...

The Chinese seem to be either testing the waters or ratcheting up the dispute over, either the whole of Arunachal Pradesh or part of it with their string of pronouncements on the subject, starting with the statement of the then Chinese Ambassador to India, Sun Yuxi and recently by former State Councillor Dai Binguo.  The Chinese have never been quite explicit on how much of Arunachal they seek. I once saw an official map displayed in a travel agents office in Lhasa that showed only the Tawang tract as Chinese territory. In other maps they have their border running along the foothills, which means all of Arunachal. The Chinese have based their specific claim on the territory on the premise that Tawang was administered from Lhasa, and the contiguous areas owed allegiance to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet. Modi blows hot air at China in a rally in Arunachal Pradesh - forgetting Vajpayee's surrender in 2003 Hope India returns Tawang, says Chinese m...

In 1999, the Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser came across Wang Lixiong’s book “Sky Burial: The Fate of  Tibet .” On finishing it, she sent Mr. Wang photographs taken by her father, who was with the People’s Liberation Army when it entered Tibet in the 1950s and documented the early years of the  Cultural Revolution  in Lhasa in the 1960s. Mr. Wang wrote back, saying, “It’s not for me, as a non-Tibetan, to use these photos to reveal history. That task can only be yours.” On Aug. 24, 1966, in Lhasa, Buddhist scriptures were burned as part of  the campaign against the “Four Olds” — old customs, old culture, old habits,  old ideas. Credit Tsering Dorje Ms. Woeser began tracking down and interviewing people who appeared in the photos. This resulted in two books published by Locus in Taiwan in 2006: “Forbidden Memory: Tibet During the Cultural Revolution,” based on her father’s photographs, and “Tibet Remembered,” an oral history narrated by 23 people ...

Chinese dissident leader Yang Jianli, the moving force behind the Interfaith Conference of China's ethnic and religious minorities in Dharamsala recently, is not unduly disturbed by the cancellation of visas of some dissident leaders by India. He pointed out that despite the cancellation of four visas due to China's protest, 69 participants, including at least eight Chinese activists and Uyghur American Association's president Ilshat Hsan, had attended the conference. "The cancellation of the visas of Dolkun Isa, Lu Jinghua and Ray Wong is a matter of regret. But the Indian media has overlooked one vital fact: that the conference itself was held, and that India allowed it to be held for the first time on its soil says a lot about the government's position," he said. He cautioned against coming to quick conclusions about India being "weak" in reacting to China's protest. Yang is president of Initiatives for China , a US-based organisat...