Panellists at the “50 years of Chinese Aggression against India and The Question of Tibet’ in New Delhi.

Delhi: Core Group for Tibetan Cause, India, today organised a seminar entitled “50 years of Chinese Aggression against India and the Question of Tibet’ in New Delhi.
 
In his opening address Dr. N.K. Trikha, convener of Core Group, said that the Chinese aggression of 1962 raises many questions of the intentions of China behind attacking India. Despite the slogans of Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai and Panchsheel Agreement, China betrayed India by repudiating the terms of agreement. China claims that India with its forward policy and its development on the borderland, had provoked the Chinese to start the war. Dr. Trikha expressed that the cause of the Sino-India War was not Tibet, rather it lies in China’s attitude to teach a lesson to India.
 
General N.S. Malik, (Retd.), former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, acknowledged that Tibet is very much related to the Sino-Indian discourse, adding that anything and everything that happens in our northern borders, have some connections with Tibet. He said the Sino-Indian border dispute began after China occupied Tibet.  He said that the major problem lies in the lack of political will on our side.
 
Ambassador Ranjit Gupta, a former diplomat, narrated the historical aspect of the 1962 war and Indian leaders’ views on Tibet. He said that “Tibet became a first victim of Nehru’s quest for building a relation with China.” “India was far more concerned about China than us”, claimed Ambassador Ranjit. He said that China must not be given a free pass to dictate our policy. 1962 war is a lesson which we have to learn. Regarding our policy vis-à-vis China, India have to deal with firmness to resolve the dispute with China. It was a right and proper decision to give refuge to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans when China occupied Tibet. Hence, political parties must reach a consensus to give full support to the Tibetans in their freedom struggle.
 
Major General Vinod Saighal, (Retd.), said that  India should raise the issue of Tibet in its dialogue with the Chinese government on the border dispute.
 
Mr Balbir Punj, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, narrated a well-known Urdu proverb,‘Slight mistake happens within a few seconds will cost centuries of error’. He said that if a far-sighted approach was taken in the 1950s, the occupation of Tibet and the subsequent protracted Sino-Indian border dispute would not have happened. Mr. Balbir explicitly mentioned that Tibet was a buffer state and has equal relations with India and China. For the past 50 years, we are not able to move forward and help His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  But one day, Tibet will be free and China will be shown its place, he said.
 
Mr Thubten Samphel, Executive-Director of Tibet Policy Institute, gave a brief outline of China’s invasion of Tibet. He stressed that China’s occupation of Tibet was prompted by Young husband expedition to Tibet in 1904. Due to the British imperialist expansionism, China feared of losing Tibet, that was considered a backyard of China. China then started refocusing their attention towards Tibet. Secondly, Mr Samphel explained two different agreements namely, 1913 Shimla Agreement and 17 Point Agreement of 1951 and how the agreements were rejected and accepted by the Chinese. He opened a new discourse where the scholars should explore how China changes its positions in recognising the agreements made with Tibet as per their convenience. Mr Samphel said that Cultural Tibet, spreading across the Himalayan belt inherited by the virtue of Buddhist traditions, had contributed much to India. Government of India must work to help resolve the Tibet issue, where the Exile Tibetan Administration vouch for Middle Way Policy to resolve the long standing problems.
 
Dr Anand Kumar lamented that no serious debates on Tibet was tabled in the Indian parliament for the past so many years, even though Indian masses sympathize with the Tibetan cause and knows well about the 1962 Sino-Indian war. He said that, to save Himalaya is to save Tibet from the Chinese invaders. In order to do so, he suggested that “we should pass on the message to the Indian parliament to put more resolute efforts  to help Tibet in their freedom struggle”.
 
Finally, Mr Vijay Kranti, a well-known friend of Tibet and photo journalist, said, Tibet was our neighbour along the Himalayan belt  of Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh and rejected China being India’s neighbour. He stressed on China’s strategy regarding India, namely ‘String of Pearls’. With the development of railway line and roadways inside Tibet, Chinese armies can reach anywhere in India. Such infrastructures helped mainland Chinese to settle in Tibet, which made Tibetans in Tibet a meaningless minority inside Tibet. He explicitly said that the Independence of Tibet is more important to Indians than Tibetans, taking into considerations the vulnerability of Chinese militarisation inside Tibet.
 
More than a hundred Indians and Tibetans living in Delhi attended the seminar.
 
The seminar was jointly organised by Bharat Tibbat Sahyog Manch, Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society, Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet, Friends of Tibet-India, Students for a Free Tibet-India, Youth Liberation Front of Tibet, Himalaya Parivar, Rashtriya Muslim Andolan.