By SOURAV SANYAL
DHARAMSALA – It’s a one-of-it’s-kind programme in the world. To help rehabilitate the “torture victims” of the “oppressive communist Chinese rule”, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has been running a Tibetan Torture Survivors’ Programme (TTSP) since October 1996 far removed from the glare of public eye.
Undertaking the “overall responsibility” of looking after the torture victims who have endured “severe forms of traumatizations”, TTSP aims at reducing physical, psychosocial and psychological sequel resulting from “organised violence and politically motivated torture in Tibet”.
Observes a CTA’s health department spokesperson, “TTSP was initiated in response to escalating tyrannical and oppressive policy of the Chinese which led to the influx of a large number of Tibetans to India.
Till date, many Tibetans continue to flee Tibet. Many of them have suffered physical and psychological torture under oppressive Chinese rule. Though not all, but a substantial number of them need special counselling, medical support and treatment to adapt to the new environment.” Corroborating the need for the programme, Samdup Lhatse, director, Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute, sums up the predicament of the Tibetans. “No one in Tibet is happy as every activity is kept under control by the Chinese. Tibetans are never treated like human beings and are subjected to both physical and mental torture.
Being treated even worse than animals, the Tibetans are scarred for life. Broken and fragmented families are the order of the day today. When these victims land up here they are completely shattered and have to be taken special care of,” he says. Lhatse migrated to India in late 1950s after his father and brother, who were imprisoned by the Chinese, died.
Headed by a programme officer, TTSP consists of a multi-disciplinary team of two doctors each of traditional Tibetan medicine and allopathy, two spiritual advisors, two Western expatriate psychologists, three social workers and two counsellors to cater to the mental health care needs of the clients through collective, integrated system of both Tibetan traditional medicine and allopathic medicine.
TTSP provides cost free medical and psychological assistance to the torture victims and those subjected to other forms of political repression. Individual counselling therapy, physiotherapy, and regular monthly group therapy sessions are also available. “The emphasis is also placed on ‘lojong’ or training of the mind to help develop our practical mechanism against any stressful circumstances,” notes the health department spokesperson.
The cases which cannot be handled are referred to hospitals Chandigarh and Delhi. Even as exact number of beneficiaries could not be ascertained, rough estimates say that over 500 refugees have benefited under TTSP.
Further, to rehabilitate refugees in a new socio-cultural environment, vocational and livelihood training is also provided.
