New Delhi, March 17 – The crackdown by Chinese authorities against protesters in the Tibetan capital Lhasa echoed in both houses of parliament with the government being asked to put pressure for UN intervention in the matter.
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, BJP deputy leader V.K. Malhotra alleged that there was “cultural annihilation” by Beijing in Tibet. “More than 100 people were killed. There were protests all over. But India is silent,” he alleged.
Samajwadi Party’s Ramjilal Suman also asked the government to condemn the violence in “strongest words”.
Yogi Adityanath of the BJP, who also spoke on the issue said “India should stand against this kind of ethnic cleansing”.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said there has been no change in India’s policy towards China since 1959 and that India had already expressed its concern over the developments in Lhasa. Quoting a statement issued by his ministry, he said: “We are distressed by reports of the unsettled situation and violence in Lhasa, and by the deaths of innocent people”.
The main opposition was not satisfied by the intervention made by Mukherjee and walked out of the lower house protesting against New Delhi’s “hesitation to condemn the violence in Lhasa”.
The matter was also raised in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house. “The government response has been weak-kneed,” former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha declared while raising the issue during zero hour in the Rajya Sabha.
“We are all for good relations with China but I would humbly suggest that good relations do not mean that we surrender (our rights to make our views known),” he maintained.
“We have civilizational links with Tibet,” he pointed out, demanding a government statement “on what its thinking (on the issue) is”. The government should also work through diplomatic channels and the UN to bring about a resolution of the issue, Sinha contended.
He also condemned the “blood repression” and the “cultural genocide on a large scale” by the Chinese government against protesters in Lhasa. “Human rights are being violated with impunity. We do not know how many people have lost their lives but it is believed to be in the hundreds.”
“There are door-to-door searches for the protesters and not for those who have indulged in violence. What is most shocking is that the authorities have declared a people’s war against the people of Tibet,” Sinha maintained.
“How can a government conduct a people’s war against its own people,” he wondered.
Sinha also condemned the “barbarity” with which the police in the national capital have put down protests by Tibetans here.
“The Dalai Lama is our honoured guest. All Tibetans in India are our guests. Is this how we treat our guests?” Sinha asked.
