Rethink policy on Tibet, use Dalai help on China

It seems obvious to everybody that the Chinese leadership has blundered in jumping too fast and too deep into the Ladakh adventure. A few ambitious generals in Chengdu’s Western Theatre Command sold the idea to President Xi Jinping to advance the Line of Actual Control (LAC); and in the process the trust built during the Wuhan Consensus in 2018 and the Chennai Connect in 2019 between the leaders of India and China has vanished in the ice-cold waters of Pangong Tso. Not only has the bonhomie shown earlier this year become past history, but China has taken a beating on the economic front and this is just beginning.

There is a character of Moliere, the famous 17th century French playwright who keeps repeating throughout the play “Mais que diable allait-il donc faire dans cette galere?” (It can be translated as: “but what the hell were they doing in this galley?”), though “galere” has two meanings in French, one is “galley”, the other one “mess”; and it describes perfectly Xi Jinping’s unnecessary and (messy) rowing in the Ladakhi “galere”. Some in India have suggested using “ten thousand methods” to tackle the Middle Kingdom; the “Tibet Card” is one of these means.

Though the term “card” may not be adequate, one can certainly speak of the Tibet factor in the India-China ties.

Jawaharlal Nehru, during his first encounter with the Dalai Lama in Mussoorie in May 1959, made it clear that India would not politically support Tibet, but New Delhi would help to rehabilitate Tibetan refugees and provide education to its youth. The Prime

Minister spoke rather rudely to the Tibetan leader, who was probably shaken by this first encounter. What choice did he have but to accept Nehru’s decision? The Prime Minister had enunciated India’s first Tibet policy; humanitarian support, yes, political support, no.

But this can changed.

Even if the Government of India has not wanted to be politically involved, the ageold relations between India and Tibet have remained alive; we have seen it since the beginning of the present crisis in Ladakh.

After visiting Tibet in 1957, Apa Pant, the political officer in Sikkim, wrote a long note; he openly said that the Chinese officers were not interested “in harmony and compassion, but in power and material benefit”; Pant spoke of the confrontation of two different worlds: “The one so apparently inefficient, so humane and even timid, yet kind and compassionate and aspiring to something more gloriously satisfying in human life; the other determined and effective, ruthless, power-hungry and finally intolerant. I wondered how this conflict could resolve itself, and what was India’s place in it.”

The kinship of shared values and history between India and Tibet has remained; unfortunately, it has never translated into a coherent policy for the Tibetan refugees as well as the populations of the border region.

The Dalai Lama is just an honoured guest of the Indian government, with often very little concrete effect except that New Delhi has looked after his comfortable stay and his security while in India. What more could be done? be

The most radical step would be to give some kind of recognition to the government in exile; it may not happen immediately, but it is good to remember that when the Tibet issue came before the United Nations in

1965, Rafiq Zakaria, India’s then permanent representative, read a long statement, before voting in favour of the resolution; Zakaria said: “As the days pass, the situation becomes worse and cries out for the attention of all mankind. As we know, ever since Tibet came under the stranglehold of China, the Tibetans have been subjected to a continuous and increasing ruthlessness which has few parallels in the annals of the world. In the name of introducing ‘democratic reforms’ and fighting a ‘counter-revolution’, the Chinese have indulged in the worst kind genocide and the suppression of a minority race.” Have things changed?

Today like yesterday, the relations with the Dalai Lama are crucial.

The views of both the Government of India and the Office of the Dalai Lama need to be harmonised; unless both sides work together, any new policy will have no meaning. Ultimately, New Delhi should get the Dalai Lama more involved in Indian affairs, especially in relation to the northern borders; at the same time, the Dalai Lama should definitely not be encouraged to go on a pilgrimage in Wutai Shan (China) at the present juncture.

As a first step, the foreign secretary, the present incumbent being himself a Buddhist, should meet the Tibetan leader and clearly indicate that India stands by him for whatever mode of reincarnation or emanation he may choose and that India will continue to provide a “special guest status” to the

15th Dalai Lama. Meetings with the Prime Minister as well as the external affairs minister and the national security adviser need to be organised at the earliest; it can establish a base to coordinate further policies and subsequent actions.

In this context, candidates for the post of Sikyong (president) of the Central Tibetan Administration, to be elected by the Tibetan diaspora early next year, need to clearly understand India’s security concerns; it has not always been the case in the past.

It is necessary to rethink what could be a new approach towards Tibet and the Tibetan refugees in India. Perhaps, instead of having a new policy only for Tibet, it would be wiser to have a common policy for the Himalayan belt and Tibet, which have shared countless cultural, spiritual, strategic and economic similarities. An Office for Northern Frontiers and Tibetan Affairs could be created, perhaps under the Cabinet Secretary to ensure proper coordination.

This office would look after not only the development of border areas, but also work with the Tibetans, keeping in mind the welfare and customs of the local Himalayan population and refugees; this would include, among other measures stopping the migration of the local populations towards the big cities; the building of infrastructure, revival of border trade, trans-border pilgrimages and promoting Tibetan culture (particularly Tibetan medicine).

It is today crucial to strengthen the link between New Delhi, Dharamsala and the border areas.

Two principles should guide the new policy, one, a perfect coordination between the different ministries/departments/agencies; this will be required to make any new policy meaningful and two, the active participation of the Dalai Lama and his administration in Dharamsala.