New Delhi, August 15 – Referring to the recent Sino-India joint declaration in Beijing, Shri Indresh Kumar said that this was a diplomatic move and not necessarily India’s expression of faith and confidence in China. This does not mean our understanding that China has improved and our position on Tibet changed. He said that Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) was created in 1965 by People’s Republic of China, which was formed in 1949, and therefore, Prime Minister only stated the ground reality. TAR is only one third of the entire Tibet. Nothing is agreed or spoken about the rest of Tibet. Prime Minister has not committed anything geographically or historically but simply made a diplomatic and political statement, which is much better then, all the previous statements on Tibet.
In fact the change is that there is today a greater understanding of the situation of Tibet in India and this stand of the government has opened up new debates on the issue of Tibet which is a welcome step.
He was speaking to a well attended seminar of 250 intellectuals and opinion makers on the eve of India’s Independence on the subject “Himalayas – foreign conspiracy” organized by Bharati Tejas, an Indian NGO at the constitutional club in the capital.
He ridiculed China’s claim of Tibet being historically part of China by saying that prior to 1950 it would be impossible to find any reference to otherwise famous Lhasa or Kailash Mansorver in their literatures. India and Tibet for centuries shared a spiritual bond and therefore, no permit or visa was required to visit Kaliash Mansorver before the occupation of Tibet.
Swami Chinmayand Saraswati, Union Minister of state, for Home, Government of India, and Janab Mazzafar Hussain, veteran journalist from Mumbai also addressed the seminar.
Swami Chinmayand complimented the statement of Shri Indresh Kumar and called upon the nation to view the issue of Tibet seriously. He expressed his concern about the preservation of Himalayan environment and said that he will work towards restoration of Himalayas as a zone of peace & tranquility and abode of God, the status, which it enjoyed for thousands of years.
(Note: Shri Indresh Kumar is currently the Deputy National Coordinator of Rastraya Swam Sewak Sangh (RSS), a social organization with 44,000 branches all over the country. He is also the founder and patron of Bharat Tibbat Sahyog Manch, a national organization of Indian Tibet Support groups which has today 78 branches in India)
Jamyang Dorjee
Coordinator ITCO
Email: jamyangdorjee@yahoo.com
