Tibetans urge Modi to take up their cause with China during BRICS

Amitava Banerjee, HT, 15 Oct 2016, DARJEELING: While all eyes are focused on the BRICS summit in Goa given India’s attempts to isolate Pakistan, the Tibetans residing in the country have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of Tibet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

The Tibetan Youth Congress has rushed memorandums to both Modi and President Jinping through the district administration, demanding that the issue of Tibet be resolved by China through dialogue with the representatives of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and the Central Tibetan Administration in exile. Tibetan Youth Congress members from Sikkim, the Northeast and Darjeeling handed over the memorandums to the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Siliguri to be forwarded to Modi and Jinping. The memorandums urge China not to displace the Tibetan nomads from their ancestral pastoral lands. They claim that China is forcing Tibetan nomads off their lands in order to construct a number of dams besides carrying out mining in the Tibetan highlands. 

The memorandum reads, “The Tibetan nomads play a vital role in protecting the world’s dry lands. They are expert custodians of these lands and their age-old traditional knowledge should be incorporated into climatic mitigation and adaptation practices. Around 2 million nomads have been displaced and forced to live in settlements by the Chinese authorities. This practice should immediately be halted.” 

The memorandums also demand that China stop human rights violations in Tibet and release all political prisoners, including the 11th Panchen Lama who has been recognised by the Dalai Lama.