To
Mr. Shyam Saran
Foreign Secretary
Government of India
From
Tibetan Youth Congress
Students for a Free Tibet (India)
Friends of Tibet (India)
Your Excellency,
Namaste!
May we introduce ourselves; we are three Non-governmental organizations – Tibetan Youth Congress, Students for a Free Tibet and Friends of Tibet (India). We welcome you to Dharamsala, our temporary homeland, the exile residence of our leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the capital of Tibetans in Exile.
We have been keenly following the recent developments on bilateral relations between India and China, especially the series of talks your government has been engaged with China on border issues. Recently the seventh round of border talks between India and China was held in Kottayam in Kerela, where you represented the Indian party.
We are gravely concerned about the future of our country Tibet, which is still under China’s occupation. As the Government of India engages in serious border talks, we remain at loss as to how to react as the two giant nations negotiate borders, and there is no Tibetan representation in the process.
India has a very high authority to speak on Tibet, and the whole world respects India’s position on Tibet. We plead that as your government engages in discussions with China, they make no compromise on the rights of the Tibetan people.
Further, as the President of People’s Republic of China Mr. Hu Jintao comes to India this May, may we plead again, for you to raise the issue of Tibet with him. Until the 1949 illegal occupation of Tibet by China, India never had any border with China. The border was between India and Independent Tibet. India even had a Representative in Lhasa when Tibet was independent. Since India’s signing of the 1954 Panchsheel agreement with China, India has compromised on its authority to speak on Tibet, and even today the policy continues.
From 1959, since our first years of exile, India has been most kind and understanding to our struggle and has been most supportive. It is this help and support that has nurtured our dreams of a free Tibet, and the struggle lives on. For that, we remain grateful forever to the Government and the people of India.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Lobsang Yeshi
President
Tibetan Youth Congress
Tenzin Choeying
President
Students for a Free Tibet (India)
Tenzin Tsundue
General Secretary
Friends of Tibet (India)
