GUWAHATI, DEC 1: A team of environment activists from Assam brought the ‘Save Tsangpo-Siang-Brahmaputra’ campaign launched by ‘Free Tibet – A Voice from Assam’ at the Seventh All India Tibet Support Groups Conference held at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, New Delhi from 28 to 29 November 2022.
This team led by Novanita Sharma (Coordinator, Free Tibet – A Voice from Assam), Kripa Lochan Das and Jugal Handique participated in these two days long meet where 17 Tibet support groups from different parts of India took part.
More than 200 participants from across the country attended the conference organised by Core Group for Tibetan Cause- India and facilitated by Indo-Tibet Coordination Office (ITCO).
Novanita Sharma from Free Tibet-a voice from Assam raised the campaign of ‘Save Tsangpo-Siang-Brahmaputra’ along with other important dimensions for the Tibetan freedom movement.
She stressed upon the significance of this campaign, she said, ‘the threats faced by the Brahmaputra River is of national importance which is connected with the Tibetan freedom movement, devastation of Brahmaputra and Siang River will be national crises.’
She further added ‘The honourable Sikyong Penpa Tsering mentioned in his speech about the muddy water of Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh, which he witnessed in his recently concluded visit to North East India; hence, every Tibet supporter must raise Free Tibet’s Save Tsangpo-Siang-Brahmaputra campaign to save this Himalayan River from the detrimental Chinese model of exploitation and ecological damage.’
The age-old issue of Chinese manhandling and exploitation of trans Himalayan River Yarlung Tsangpo which originates in Tibet and drains across a massive area as the Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra River in Assam is been brought to the forefront for the first time at national level by ‘Free Tibet – A Voice from Assam’.
This transnational river finally plunges into the Bay of Bengal from Bangladesh, the food and livelihood security of millions in one of the most thickly populated regions of Asia depends on this river. The contentious issues of mega damming and the controversial South-North water diversion project over the Yarlung Tsangpo by communist China has been protested for the first time by this ‘Save Tsangpo-Siang-Brahmaputra’ campaign.
Free Tibet- A Voice from Assam is raising a people’s movement in Assam for freedom of Tibet from the repressive rule of communist China in the Tibetan plateau. River Brahmaputra is the economic, ecological, and cultural lifeline of Assam which enters India at Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh.
This river binds the people of the Yarlung valley in Tibet, the Siang valley in Arunachal Pradesh and the people of the Brahmaputra valley in Assam together in one of the richest composite civilisations of Asia, marked with astounding ethnic, geographic, ecological diversity.
This diversity is reflected in the unique cultural fabric of this civilisation. The exploitative communist Chinese regime in Tibet puts question on the future survival of this civilisation. The People’s Republic of China’s demonic hydrological strategy includes the disastrous mega dams over Yarlung Tsangpo, which are envisioned to ouster the Three Gorges Dams in its size and immensity. The foreseeable dams over Yarlung Tsangpo, along with its huge water reservoir, when fully developed will act as a water bomb for the millions living in the downstream.
Reports and available data indicate that the Chinese government is very close to implement the controversial south-north water transfer project which plans to transfer water from the Yarlung Tsangpo to the northern rivers situated in mainland China to feed the industrial states of China. These hydrological strategies of communist China constitute an important security strategy of PRC to safeguard its international borders against threats of backlashes from Tibet and India. This hydrological model of communist China ensues the biggest ecological catastrophe for riparian states like Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
This accounts for the worst humanitarian crises of this world. No force in this world can stop PRC from executing this devil’s model over Yarlung Tsangpo, the only hope lies in freedom of Tibet from the Chinese rule. Freedom of Tibet will give freedom to the Himalayan rivers like Yarlung Tsangpo. The ecological disaster taking place in Tibet under the Chinese rule must end, the protection of Yarlung valley is integral to the preservation of the Yarlung Tsangpo River.
The ‘Save Tsangpo-Siang-Brahmaputra’ campaign by Free Tibet-a voice from Assam is playing a crucial role in highlighting the ecological movement for preservation of Tibetan environment and Tibetan rivers like Yarlung Tsangpo at national as well at international levels. India must rise to protect the rights of Indian citizens living in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and every Indian must participate in this campaign to preserve the rich Brahmaputra civilisation from devastation in the hands of communist Chinese game plan of coercive expansion under the garb of hegemony over river water and ecological exploitation.
-Report filed by ITCO