Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 19, 2001
The world puts the Dalai Lama in
the same league as mahatma Gandhi. But the Chinese call him a "splittist
who is using the so-called Tibet issue to split our country and weaken
our power". His struggle for the liberation of Tibet from the Chinese is
the only peaceful movement in a world increasingly racked by terrorism
and fundamentalism. Forced to flee to India when the Chinese entered Lhasa
in 1959, the exiled spiritual leader of more than six million Tibetans
tells Gurumukh Sing that the winds of Change sweeping the world will also
blow across China soon:
Q. With the world witnessing a spiral
of violence - the September 11 terror attacks on America and the subsequent
bombing of Afghanistan do you think your pacifist movement for liberating
Tibet will ever succeed?
A. Violence only leads to retaliation,
which means bloodletting. Nothing gets satisfactorily solved by violent
methods. Most world leaders realise this. Yet there is a lack of compassion
and love for one another. As for Tibet, we cannot take on the Chinese might.
But our cause is just. Our struggle may go on for generations.
I know many Tibetan young men are
getting impatient and are advocating violent methods against the Chinese.
But I ask them where they will get the money to buy arms, how they will
drop these arms into Tibet and how sure they are that violence will deter
the Chinese. For me, even one death matters a lot. For the Chinese, it
does not matter even if thousands are killed. Again, if the Tibetans turn
violent, the world will not back us. My struggle is peaceful. It is not
against my Chinese brothers and sisters. It is for the preservation of
our centuries-old culture and our land which the Chinese regime is destroying
systematically. I am hopeful the Chinese will change.
Q. What are the grounds for your
optimism?
A. I have never been pessimistic.
I never lost hope even during the '60s and '70s when we were completely
cut off from Tibet and the Chinese were engaged in the Cultural Revolution.
After Mao's death, things changed rapidly as China went through another
upheaval. We developed direct contacts with the Chinese. During Hu Yaobang's
tenure, the Chinese said we were welcome to come and discuss the issue.
But things never really got off the ground. Then Tiananmen happened. There
has been very little contact with them since then. Under Jiang Zemin, the
Chinese have hardened their stance.
But the situation is changing in
China. Hunger for spiritualism is growing. Western-educated Chinese are
very liberal. During my interaction with them in the West, I feel reassured
by their sympathy for our just cause.
Politically also, a new generation
is set to take over in China next year. I am sure they will not be burdened
by the baggage of the past.
Q. Do you feel let down by world
leaders?
A. India has helped us a lot. But
for Nehru, we would have been in great trouble. Tibet's cause is India's
cause. India is our spiritual home.
But India has been a little overcautious
vis-a-vis China. It behoves New Delhi's stature that it asserted itself
more vigorously.
During my meetings with world leaders,
I ask them to help materialise a meaningful dialogue with China. Western
leaders often raise the issue with the Chinese, but the result is nothing.
But the picture of our struggle
is becoming clear to the outside world. They know that an independent nation
has been taken over by another nation. Despite their concerns about China,
more and more governments are showing interest in our struggle.
Q. What is the situation inside
Tibet today?
A. Since the Chinese see our identity
as a source of separation, they are relentlessly trying to destroy our
culture. There is a rule of terror in Tibet.
In the name of integrating Tibet
with the mainland, they are creating jobs for the Chinese in Tibet to change
our demography. Lhasa and other big towns have more Chinese than Tibetans.
Some time ago a new Tibetan exile told me that (according to Chinese statistics)
the Chinese constitute 85 per cent of Lhasa's population. The Chinese population
is rapidly increasing in areas where the climate suits them. Two months
ago, I got a letter from a Tibetan telling me that in the next 30 years,
20 million Chinese will be settled in Tibet. In the autonomous central
Tibet, there are more than two million Chinese. Tibet as a nation is dying.
Q. How true are the reports about
a new railway line linking Lhasa with the mainland?
A. The Chinese will complete the
new railway line within the next five years. Its aim is to encircle us,
facilitate troop movement and exploit Tibet's resources of gold, silver,
iron, timber and uranium. Only two rupees out of one hundred that China
takes out of Tibet is spent on Tibet.
With the railway linking inner Tibet
to the mainland China, Tibet's role as buffer state between India and China
will go. The world, particularly India, should also know how the Chinese
are changing the course of the rivers which flow into India.
Q. After you, what?
A. The Chinese are waiting for
me to die (laughs). Politically, they don't want a Dalai Lama. However,
they are thinking of setting up a committee to look for a Dalai Lama reincarnation.
But the Tibetan people will not accept it as, according to Buddhist tradition,
my reincarnation can appear only outside of Tibet. No family in Tibet has
kept in its home the picture of the Chinese nominated Panchen Lama.
As for the Tibetan struggle, I put
in place a democratically elected government (in exile) just last month.
The 150,000-strong Tibetan community in exile voted for it. The government,
headed by Prof Samdong Rimpoche, is supreme in decision-making. Every Tibetan
in exile above the age of six contributes three rupees and every salaried
Tibetan two per cent of his income towards running this government. If
they want, the Tibetans can abolish the institution of the Dalai Lama.
In 1992, I made it clear that if
(and when) I return to Tibet I will surrender all my authority to the local
administration.
Q. Do you think you might have been
more successful had you based your government in exile in the West?
A. No. Some years ago, it was suggested
by some people in the West that the Tibetan establishment should be shifted
there. I said 'no'. The possibility of the Tibetans to live as a separate
community is possible only in India. India strikes an emotional chord in
our hearts. It is very, very special for the Buddhists. Tibetan civilisation
is 8,000 years old. Since Buddhism came to Tibet in the seventh century,
India has been our spiritual home. Then there is the factor of our proximity
to Tibet. People from Tibet can come out and join us here.
