Kalon Tripa pleads calm, says external forces manipulating issues
Tuesday, 8 May 2007, 9:00 a.m.
Kalon Tripa addressing the Tibetan people at Tsuglakhang (Photo: Phurbu Thinley, phayul) |
Dharamshala: Suggesting that some foreign elements may have a hand in how a minor isolated incident has so suddenly snowballed to the edge of a full-blown communal issue, Kalon Tripa exhorted the Tibetan people here “to exercise restrain and endure the misfortune” for the benefit of both near and long-term interest of the Tibetan cause, and in order to avoid causing embarrassments to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is currently on visit to the US.
Addressing a pell-mell gathering of several hundreds of Tibetans on Saturday, 5 May, here at the courtyard of Tsuglakhang, Kalon Tripa was referring to the brawl between Tibetans and auto and taxi drivers on the night of 2 May, which created mass consternation when the local drivers, after beating up two Tibetan girls who only intervened to stop the fight.
Kalon Tripa, flanked by Kalon Thubten Lungrig and Ajai Singh Mankotia, president of Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society |
Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche said that although scuffles between Tibetans and cab drivers are not rare in this part of the country, the way this incident has been manipulated to whip up the raw emotions of Tibetan people across India and various other countries is a cause for concern.
There are reasons to believe that external elements have intensified their activities to create differences and discrepancies not only within the Tibetan people, but also between Tibetans and the Indian people, Kalon Tripa said, citing some recent incidents of similar kind.
Apart from a series of rumours, and fiery writings on the wall, which were instantly disseminated across India and to various other countries, largely through emails and text messages, the way some of the state vernacular dailies covered the whole incident further added fuel to what could have been an isolated incident.
Education Kalon Thubten Lungrig and members of various Indian fraternities were also present at the meeting summoned by the Tibetan Welfare Office.
IN AN EMOTIONAL recount of the tragedy of 1959, Kalon Tripa reflected on the hardy days when, after the Chinese armed repression of popular Tibetan uprising, His Holiness, along with thousands of Tibetans, sought refuge in India, how both the government and people of this country magnanimously embraced Tibetans as one of their own.
“Most of you might have been born in India. I still vividly remember those days. I was only 20 when I came to India.”
Even though India has not promulgated any laws on refugees, nor is a signatory to any international laws like Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, the country has been exceedingly generous in looking after the needs of Tibetan refugees for the last 48 years, Kalon Tripa said.
“Barring the right to vote, Tibetans in this country enjoy almost all the rights afforded to the citizens.”
Kalon Tripa further said that disputes and disagreements are a natural component of human society; when they arise, particularly in a country ruled by law, they could and should be resolved through lawful means.
Earlier on 4 May, speaking at an urgent meeting of members of both Indian and Tibetan NGOs and fraternities summoned at Bhagsu Hotel, after shops at McLeod Gunj closed shutters following rumours that the Tibetan boys involved in the brawl had died, the local Superintendent of Police has vehemently assured that the authorities are probing the matter and those who were found to be guilty will be brought to justice.
The situation as of now appears to be cautiously inching back to normal.