Kolkata: Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration attended the inaugural of one-day seminar at EZCC Hall (Salt Lake-Kolkata) organised by Smt. Ruby Mukherjee, the Regional Convenor of Eastern Region III, Core group for Tibetan Cause-India. The seminar focused on “PRC’s violation of human rights in Tibet, the destruction of Tibet’s environment (deforestation, illegal mining, building of dams-violation of right to water), regarding conferment of the Bharat Ratna award to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the authenticity of China’s border with India, and Liberation of Kailash Mansarovar.
Upon his arrival at Kolkata on 3 January, Sikyong received a warm welcome from the National Covener Shri R.K. Khrimey and other members of the regional core group, accompanied by Tibetan residents (mostly seasonal retailers). Thereafter, Press Trust of India and Republic TV Channel, separately, held an exclusive interview with Sikyong to discuss recent developing issues.
On 4 January, the inauguration of the day-long seminar kicked off with a performance of traditional Bengali dance in Sikyong’s reception. Following the introductory remarks from Smt. Ruby Mukherjee, ceremonial Tibetan khatags were presented to the chief guest and other dignitaries at the dais.
Addressing the seminar, Shri R.K. Khrimey shed light on the journey of His Holiness the 14th Dalai lama and Tibetan people as political refugees to India in 1959 after China illegally occupied Tibet. He gave an overview of ‘Why Tibet is so important for India’ in terms of environmental and political aspects. He urged the people of India to join and assist the cause of Tibet and its movement.
Additionally, two documentary videos on “Human Rights violation in Tibet” from the archive of CTA were presented during the inaugural session.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the event’s chief guest, addressed the gathering highlighting historical and cultural ties between Tibet and India since the 7th century. He reiterated Tibet as a repository of ancient Indian traditions in his talk while mentioning the derivation of Tibetan scripts from Devanagri and the consequent adoption of Buddhism emanated from India.
Furthermore, he apprised the gathering of China’s mistreatment of Tibetans’ human rights and cultural aspects through introduction of colonial boarding schools to disconnect young Tibetans from their traditions, implementation of grid-lock system to constrain Tibetans, collection of DNA samples and scanning of iris to surveil dissidents inside Tibet among other concerning issues. Nearly 80 per cent of Tibetan children had to go to colonial-style Chinese boarding schools where they were taught neither the Tibetan language nor Tibetan culture and were trained only in Chinese ethos. China’s introduction of a forceful policy of “consolidating the sense of single Han national Identity” which targets the extermination and Sinicisation of the Tibetan identity that led Tibetans inside Tibet to self-immolate as a form of peaceful protest, was also brought forward at the event.
He further notified PRC’s environmental destruction through illegal building of mega dams on Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) in Tibet, threatening the water security of Assam and Bangladesh and could even cause a natural disaster in these riparian places. It was noticed in 2018 that muddy water was flowing down the Brahmaputra from Tibet, seemingly caused by construction activities in the upstream region.
Before concluding, Sikyong expressed his gratitude to the organising team and the people of India for their untiring support towards the Tibetan movement and its cause.
The event was also addressed by Dr Manas Ghosh, the editor of Bengali Daily News Paper Bartaman; Shri Prithviraj Sen, a Famous writer (Highest Individual Book Writer); Dr Narayan Chakraborty, an eminent Educationist and Prof. Pulak Narayan Dhar, an eminent Educationist.
Following the conclusion of the inaugural session, Sikyong was interviewed by various Indian media houses and briefly interacted with local Tibetans.
Nearly 300 local Indians have registered for the seminar consisting of lay people, students, members of NGO’s and Tibetan locals.
-Report filed by ITCO