Rights groups’ silence on
Tibetan sufferings shameful !

Jagdish N Singh

G overnments and parliaments in democratic states are supposed to be sensitive to and protective about the basic rights of humanity not only within their own political territories but also abroad. Sadly, they hardly do so-- even in the socalled advanced democratic states. Their approach towards the continuing sufferings of Tibetans is a case in point .

West’s tall talk

The whole world knows the Tibetans have been denied their rights ever since communist China came to annex their homeland in 1949. But all that some chief political executives in the West have done is that they have occasionally met the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and urged the authorities in Beijing to talk to him for a solution to the Tibetan predicament . And all that some parliaments in the West have done is to pass some mild resolutions in defence of the Tibetan rights.
The Western governments and parliaments have not dared ever to really counter the dragon on the ground. Theirs has virtually been just a tall talk on Tibet.

Delhi record worse

Ironically, the record of our own Government and Parliament is still worse on this front. Ours is in an ancient civilization. The finer values of our Scriptures and the Constitution both command us to treat the Tibetans as an extended family (vasudhaib kutumbakam) and defend their basic human rights. But our Government and Parliament hardly care for any such noble commandment.

Knowledgeable sources say that such is the economic and military clout of China today that no government in the world challenges Beijing on what it does to Tibetans. The successive governments in New Delhi have been too focused on cultivating ties with Beijing to raise the issue of Tibet.

Dalai Lama Our government has been busy giving the impression that it is not close to the Dalai, whom Beijing often accuses of seeking to foment secessionism in China. None of our Prime Ministers, except Jawaharlal Nehru , has ever met the Dalai publicly. Last year , our senior officials were instructed not to attend a series of functions that the Tibetans-in-exile in India had planned to mark the day in 1959 when their leader had escaped to India.
Our Government does not allow the Tibetans- inexile in India even to raise their voice against injustice being done by Beijing in the plateau . Last month, ahead of the visit (October 11-12) of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Chennai, the Tamil Nadu police picked up over 49 Tibetan youths-in-exile in India.
As for our Parliament, it has not ever taken up the Tibetan cause seriously. Unlike some of the legislatures in the West, it has never passed any resolution in defence of Tibetan right.

Noble gospels

What, however, is most shocking in this regard is the silence of our celebrity rights groups, including the so-called Gandhian and socialist ones. They are never weary of swearing by the noble gospels of Mahatma Gandhi, Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayprakash Narayan and others on the moral duty of everyone to protest against injustice to humanity. But none of them came out to protest against the continuing injustice to the Tibetans when Xi was in Chennai.

Time our rights groups discarded their motivations whatever for remaining selective in their protest against injustice . Time they invoked their conscience for the sake of humanity.

Drag the Dragon out of J & K !

Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping In the wake of the second informal talks our Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with Chinese President Xi at Mamallapuram, Chennai, last month , some officials and analysts have claimed the two leaders have pushed forward the spirit displayed by them in their first informal summit held in Wuhan last year and created an atmosphere for increased stability in India-China relations.
At Mamallapuram, New Delhi and Beijing deepened their strategic communication and forged closer cooperation at multilateral fora. They agreed to establish a “High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue mechanism” between their Finance Ministers to enhance trade volumes, bridge the massive bilateral trade deficit, and increase mutual investment in sectors agreed upon. Besides , Modi and Xi resolved to work together to meet the challenges of radicalization and terrorism.

It would, however, be pragmatic to be cautious about our ties with China . Knowledgeable sources warn there have been reports of China’s incursions in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

Amit Shah Beijing continues to back the establishment in Islamabad in the latter’s anti-India designs. It has played a crucial role in Pakistan’s nuclear and missile armament programme. It has extended diplomatic protection to Islamabad’s India-specific terror activities.
Beijing’s stance on the issue of Kashmir, an integral part of India, has been absolutely anti-India. In August, India abrogated the special status of Kashmir. Beijing supported Islamabad in raising objection to it at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

Imran Khan During Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Beijing early last month , Xi stated that China was “paying close attention” to the situation in Kashmir and that it would support Pakistan on its core interests. China maintains that the question of Jammu and Kashmir should be settled on the basis of the UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.
New Delhi must develop credible d e t e r r e n c e mechanism to checkmate any possible Chinese designs . It should fortify its borders on all fronts. The other day, our Home Minister Amit Shah rightly said “ the borders of Jammu and Kashmir … include both Pakoccupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin.”
In harmony with the Shah line of argument, New Delhi must see to it that the Special Representativeslevel mechanism, instituted during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s time, is serious about solving the border dispute. The SR mechanism has met at least 20 times so far, but in vain.

China still claims some 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) of India’s northeast and occupies 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of our land in Aksai Chin. In 1962 China captured our territory in Ladakh. In 1963, Pakistan transferred 5,180 sq kms of our land (comprising mainly the Shaksgam Valley) to China. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through Pakistan- occupied Kashmir. Beijing holds 20 per cent of our J&K. It has turned CoK into its vast cantonment. The Dragon must quit J&K !