Tibet Today brings Tibet closer to you

Where is the comparison?

By: Tharchin Y Gonpo
Date: 14th April 2008

I strongly object the comparison being drawn between the issue of Tibet and Kashmir by some of the panel speakers including Bharkha Dutt herself during the recently concluded discussion in NDTV 24*7. The issue of Tibet and Kashmir are two different issues altogether. It is utterly unfair to draw a common line between the two. There is rule of law and the democratically elected government in Kashmir but where as in Tibet there is no rule of law, no elected government, no human rights, and above all there is no fundamental freedom to common Tibetans. They have been silently suffering under the communist regime for more than 60 years now.

In addition, the people of Kashmir have been enjoying basic fundamental rights especially the right to follow and practice their own faith and religion where as in Tibet, Tibetans don’t have religious freedom. Possessing a revered picture of their religious leader, the Dalai Lama has been considered a serious crime in Tibet. The arbitrary arrest, detention, persecution and execution have been occurring at the will of the communist regime. Besides, there is absolutely no fair trial to Tibetans. The legal right and the right to appeal one’s case at the higher court is still a distant dream for common people.

Thus, in reality, Tibetans in Tibet have been living under the vigilant eyes of communist regime as one wouldn’t know the next door be an agent of communist regime or not. Therefore, people in Tibet have been living in such a fearful and tense environment. In fact, the present situation in Tibet is not dissimilar to the then situation in Germany and in its colonies during the Nazi rule.

Besides, the infamous political re-education conducted by the Chinese government in Tibetan monastic communities has been enforcing Tibetans to shun their religious leader, the Dalai Lama and their faith. Such forcible indoctrination of the deceptive Maoist ideologies has been continued since the barbaric Cultural Revolution which swept the whole of Tibet in early 1960s. The period during the Cultural Revolution has been largely considered the darkest era in the history of Tibet as the centuries old Tibetan Buddhist monuments, shrines, temples, stupas, and monasteries faced an extensive destruction. Above all, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, culture and language suffered a horrendous destruction at the hands of People’s Liberation Army of communist China.

In fact, their principal motive of destroying Tibetan Buddhist culture, tradition, language and thereby dissimilating Tibetan race hasn’t changed since its annexation of Tibet in 1949. Therefore, even after sixty years of communist rule in Tibet, Tibetans are still suffering under the unchanged policy of repression and suppression at the hands of communist regime. The Tibetan culture has been systematically destroyed and dissimilated by the China’s unjust policy in Tibet. The infamous Han Chinese population transfer into Tibet has been aimed to wipe out Tibetan race and identity. The wicked plot behind this strategy is to reduce Tibetans to minority in their own land.

Thus, Tibetans at this critical period of time definitely needs the genuine support, love and concern from the Indian masses. As a matter of fact, Tibetans do share more commonality with Indians than China. The only common feature that Tibetans share with Communist China is the facial appearance. The way of living, costumes, food habits, language, culture and tradition are completely different from that of the Chinese. Furthermore, Tibetan Buddhism was originated from ancient India. It is the only existing and unbroken lineage of the ‘Buddhism’ which was thrived at Nalanda University in India in early 6th century. Besides, the Tibetan language is related to Pali and Sanskrit which are Indian languages as well. Over and above, Tibet and India shares the great Himalayas, which is worshipped by Indians and Tibetans as well. Unlike Communist China, Indians and Tibetans are deeply religious people.

To conclude, the unjust comparison between the issue of Tibet and that of Kashmir had actually disgraced the democratic India and her effort in bringing peace to the land. Therefore, I hope those who had drawn a common line between Kashmir and Tibet could actually bring an unbaised analysis on the magnitude of the gravity of situation in Tibet and Kashmir.