Is Dharamshala Safe for Tibetans?
Location of Dharamsala in India
It is with some trepidation that I am commenting on this issue surrounding the treatment of the Tibetans in exile by the local Gaddi tribe in Himachal Pradesh. In the article below, many instances of violence perpetrated are recounted. While these horrific events are deplorable, as with anything in life, there must be a reason that would cause them to act in this way towards the Tibetans.
The article doesn’t seem to give a conclusive reason detailing the causes of these incidents and in fact, it seems to point the figure squarely at Gaddi mob mentality. However, it is important to understanding the undercurrent of thoughts and emotions behind the history of interactions between both communities.
It is clear that the when the Tibetans were granted land by the Indian government, the local populace may have developed resentment, which could have been aggravated by seeing the Tibetans prosper under foreign aid. At the same time, the Tibetans may have developed an air of arrogance towards the local populace, due to their inflated sense of pride brought on by their comparable wealth. This is especially true of the wealthier Tibetans who are well known to look down on the local Indians.
This resentment is not something that appeared overnight but would have been brewing for some time. It would have been the economic stability of the Tibetans compared to the precarious economic situation of the locals that pushed the locals over the edge to commit such brutality. The economic situation of the Tibetans is not from their own efforts, but the benefits granted them by the Indian government and foreign aid due to their refugee status, compared to the local populace, who were not granted such special privileges despite being citizens of the country.
I do not condone rape and violence for any reason whatsoever, as these actions violate others, but I am simply stating the facts as we see them. In the article below, the author recounts some of the brutal examples of such resentment on both sides. Please read and understand what a lack of integration and harmony between communities and races can lead to, for reasons such as economic stability and how people look down on others that have less than them. The Tibetans owe the Indian communities a lot.
I do not see Tibetans setting up schools, hospices, soup kitchens, aid, hospitals, clinics, or welfare centres for the Indian communities. The Dalai Lama is so famous, yet he has not set up hospitals or something that benefits the Indians back. The Tibetans have lived off the land in India for free literally for over 5 decades but give nothing back to the communities of Indians directly. Building big house, driving nice cars/motorcyles, having huge temples in India yet calling themselves refugees would irk the Indians. Indians often complain that the Tibetans are very arrogant and talk down to them. I guess there are faults on both sides, but whatever it is, the Tibetans should reach out to the citizens of their host countries individually. The Dalai Lama does bring tourist dollars to Dharamsala, but what are the actual individual Tibetans doing for the Indian communities they have benefited from so much? Something to think about.
Submitted by Surendra Kapoor
ABOUT DHARAMSALA
Dharamsala (also Dharamshala) is a city and a municipal corporation in Kangra district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is the district headquarters. It was formerly known as Bhagsu. The Dalai Lama’s residence and the headquarters of Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile) are in Dharamshala. Dharamshala is 18 kilometres from Kangra.
In March 1959, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India after the failed uprising in 1959 in Tibet against the Communist Party of China. His Holiness was offered refuge in Dharamsala by the Indian government, where he established the Tibetan Government In Exile (now called Central Tibetan Administration or CTA) in 1960 and his official residence. It is also home to some Buddhist monasteries and thousands of Tibetan refugees. Over the years, Dharamsala evolved into an important tourist and pilgrimage destination. It is known as “Little Lhasa” or “Dhasa” (a short form of Dharamsala used mainly by Tibetans) because of its large population of Tibetan refugees.
Is Dharamshala Safe for Tibetans?
By Mila Rangzen
June 12, 2014
Gangchen Kyishong, hub of the Central Tibetan Administration
No government or people on earth have ever helped exile Tibetans more than the government and people of India have done for the past six decades. They have helped Tibetans humanitarianly, educationally, economically, culturally, spiritually and even politically to a point. Tibetans all over the world will forever remain indebted to their wisdom and compassion in action. While the Dalai Lama is given great care and protection by the Indian Government, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) should now make stabilising the status of the Tibetans in India a priority instead of going to functions and getting all the aid money for their families while thousands of poor illiterate Tibetans are at all kinds of risks.
For example, visit ICT website and see how much fat cats like Gyari Lodoe have been doing for the restoration of Tibetan dignity and materialisation of democratic freedoms–their stated mission for more than 25 years. Now after 56 years of hanging in a legal limbo, it’s time for a change. The harsh new reality for Tibetans in India today is the deteriorating social conditions that threaten a precious relationship – that of the Tibetan refugees and their Indian hosts. The focus here is Dharamshala and a way out with Indian citizenship on a new realistic Tibetan base in South India.
The main square in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala
Small and dirty conditions of Dharamshala, illustrate how fragile life is for Tibetans without citizenship. Last year in Dharamshala, a Tibetan man in his 30s was thrown off from a third story building by a half dozen local Gaddi men in an altercation. Gaddis are one of the Indian tribal communities residing in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh in north India. The man was rendered paralyzed below the waist for life but the culprits are roaming free. A Tibetan woman on a late night bus, alone as she was nearing her destination, lower Dharamsala, was brutally assaulted, raped and robbed and dumped on the roadside by the Gaddi bus driver and the conductor. She was hospitalized for a week at the Tibetan Delek hospital. Many Tibetan nuns hire cabs late night to get to their nunnery.
The cabs are run by Gaddi drivers. Often nuns get molested and raped by these Gaddi taxi drivers on their way to Dolma Ling Nunnery near Norbulingka, a few kilometers away from the headquarters of CTA. A couple of weeks ago, some Tibetan tenants (new arrivals from Tibet) were assaulted on their heads with pots and pans by their Gaddi landlord and his men for failing to pay the room rent on time. Several Tibetan women from Manali Regional Tibetan Women Association (RTWA) were repeatedly punched and kicked by the Gaddi restaurant owners (males) when they complained that they were overcharged for the lunch they ate at a bus stop. Since then they have refused to eat at the restaurant and carry their own lunch from home on their way to Delhi to participate in the Free Tibet demonstrations.
A 6’2’’ NGO friend, weighing 280lbs was threatened with a severe whipping by a skinny 12 year old Gaddi boy for parking his car on the roadside near his store in lower Dharamsala, and my friend said he could do nothing about it because if he yelled back, scores of idle Gaddi onlookers were already closing in on him with the fire of hatred raging in their eyes, itching to give him an unfair, aggravated mob assault for which there is no legal consequence as the mob would coolly melt away into the crowd if the police showed up at all and leave him for dead.
And it doesn’t end there. I too have encountered dozens of very unpleasant experiences at the hands of the Gaddi mobs. Once a Gaddi mob of men, women and children subjected me to an aggravated assault for breaking a twig from a small skinny dead eucalyptus tree lying near a vertical rock on which I was painting a 20 feet tall Free Tibet slogan that could be seen from miles away. I was thrown around like a piece of rag and I am not a midget by Tibetan or Asian standard. The mob numbered around at least two dozen men from the nearby local village. A Tibetan boy around 8 years old was sitting on his seat in a bus near McLeod Ganj, perhaps getting off at Forsyth Ganj just 2 km away.
A Gaddi man around 40 years old hopped on the bus and began to unseat the boy by cursing and intimidation just as the bus started moving. This failed to work. The boy stood firm and resolute. The man tried to yank the little boy out of his seat. The boy resisted. The man then slapped the boy repeatedly on his face and that’s when I jumped in and said enough is enough. Obviously, a fight ensued between the two of us, and in the next instant the bus stopped, and a dozen Gaddi passengers were all over me and I was once again mobbed unconscious and dumped along the roadside.
As much as the physical beatings were unbearably painful and dehumanizing, I was disgusted more by the sheer ethnic prejudice, racism and hatred spewing out of people whom I had never ever personally seen before! Obviously, there was no room for personal grudges. We didn’t even know each other. Their famous curse reserved especially for us Tibetans still echoes in my ears, “Lambayway! Mayawa judey khaneyway!” which translates into “You Tibetan mother fuckers who deserve a beating with shoes!” This curse is a prelude to a severe mob thrashing.
As you enter the main gate of the Tibetan Administration Secretariat in Gangkyi (Gangchen Kyishong), it stinks of heavy urine. If you are looking for the Tibetan cabinet building and the administrative departments, you simply can’t miss it. The stink will confirm where you are. A bunch of Gaddi taxi drivers created an illegal taxi stand on the CTA property near the gate and they have turned it into an open urinal. Often they play cricket on the road breaking the windows of the CTA office buildings with the cricket balls. They eat at the small roadside tea cafe nearby and throw all the trash on the CTA turf. They sexually harass Tibetan female staff walking home alone after work. They scream, drink and break the bottles on the CTA compound. Not one cabinet minister or parliamentarian or CTA staff– who usually acts so brave and tough when it comes to fighting among ourselves over trivial matters– got the guts to complain and drive them off the property.
Tibetan Administration Secretariat in Gangkyi (Gangchen Kyishong)
Playing it down is all they can do. The reader can well imagine the fear under which every day Tibetans exist. Communalism in essence is nothing short of terrorism albeit it comes in a different form. Many of these Gaddi cab drivers have sold their properties mainly small pieces of land to the Indian businessmen who have migrated from the plains, and now with all their money spent, uneducated and business not doing well, they vent all their frustration on Tibetans who they find easy targets. The Tibetan status of statelessness and “refugee” is taken advantage of to the point that they get away with even murder. Years ago, two of my soldier friends were beaten, murdered and thrown into a river by a mob of Gaddi villagers. Their crime was saying Namaste (greetings) to a pretty local woman but the murderers are free as innocents. Call it mob violence or ethnic persecution or hate crime, it has been going on and off since the late 80s.
CTA! We are tired of the racial hatred, envy and jealousy of the local Gaddis. We are sick of being insulted, humiliated, molested, assaulted, and bullied by Gaddi mobs everyday in restaurants, stores, schools, work place, hospitals, streets, buses, cabs and homes simply because we are stateless. We are sick of CTA’s silence on this. We are sick of being silenced on this ethnic persecution that is violating our basic human rights. We don’t want to be told to act timidly and submissively simply because we are “refugees” or Buddhists or Tibetans. We are human beings first! We don’t want to be reminded of the loss of our country – a perfect excuse for the Gaddis to trample upon us in any way they want any time any where. Independence comes and goes but humanity, under all circumstances, must remain.
Humble and peaceful we are, arrogant and violent we are not. We have no communal clashes with the Brahmins, Jats, Sikhs and Rajput communities in Dharamsala. In any case, if the same persecution regardless of whether the nature is political or racial continues in any place in exile, we have no choice but to leave for a better safer place to live in peace, a place where we can be stateless and yet enjoy basic human dignity. Read “Dharamsala Days and Dharamsala Nights” by McDonald and you will get a good idea of what Tibetans have been going through racially in Dharamshala.
I am not complaining here about the occasional one-on-one violence which is although uncalled for is sometimes understandable, living in a big human society that is stressed out by competition for scant resources in order to survive. What is cowardly is the frequent sight of a dozen local Gaddi men bashing a single unarmed Tibetan man or woman in the streets of Lower Dharamsala or Mcleod Ganj or Manali as if we looted their entire generational family wealth. We Tibetans are also trying to survive like every one else. Disgusting is an understatement to describe their sheer exploitation of the protection that comes with tribal mob bashing opportunity.
However, Tibetans themselves suffer a terribly wrong notion that fighting back a “host” who urinates on their heads is ungrateful and shameful. This must be corrected. Self defense is a universal right. How it ends up in the court is another story. Nevertheless, not doing anything about it is not reducing the price in any way either. Sweeping it under the rug only emboldens the perpetrators and keeps our people and the international community in the dark. It strips us of basic human dignity. Going “OMG or Om Money Pay Me Hung every time a Tibetan is brutalized by a Gaddi mob in front of your eyes won’t do. It is too passive to say the least. What is needed is action with a plan A followed by plan B.
The fact that Dharamsala is on world tourism map is largely due to the presence of the Tibetan populace and its culture. The first step is to muster enough guts to refuse being the economic bait for the local traders for which the reward has been nothing but physical, verbal, mental, emotional and racial abuses on everyday basis.
To make matters worse, Dharamsala is a steep hilly forested terrain where there is a lack of flat open land space. This adds to the communal tension. On top of the town being tiny with narrow roads and even narrower streets, day to day physical interaction with the huge Gaddi populace is inevitable and herein lies one of the major correlations if not altogether the direct causes for communal frictions where Tibetans being the “guests” end up at the receiving end, often also at the mercy of the corrupt inefficient racist local criminal justice system that is in cahoots with the Gaddi mobs.
In more ways than one we are grateful to the state and people of Himachal Pradesh for sheltering nearly 25,000 migratory Tibetans; we do not, however, appreciate the indignity, insecurity and uncertainty that come with the package. If exile Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay can move his family to an all expense paid home in Boston, and Home Minister Dolma Gyari has a big house in Delhi, how can they ignore the plight of the poor illiterate Tibetans who look to the CTA for leadership? For more information, read “The High Cost of Protracted Refugee Syndrome” by Maura Moynihan on www.rangzen.net
Forget fighting about Umey Lam and Rangzen, the stateless Tibetans in India are at risk and need to get citizenship first. Remaining “refugees” for mere symbolic purposes or sentimental value is the most stupid argument one can ever make. When CTA officials have passports and secure homes, why won’t the CTA do more to help everyday Tibetans in India get citizenship, which would give them the confidence, rights, voting leverage, legal protection, land and business ownership? Speaker Penpa Tsering said recently that the Dalai Lama once said that if worst came to worst he was confident that he could find a few countries that would take care of his personal welfare but was concerned about what would happen to the future of the exile Tibetans if Tibet issue is not resolved any time soon.
The answer lies in obtaining Indian citizenship. This idea terrifies China to the bone. CCP can’t even stand the Dalai Lama calling himself the son of India.
As an Indian citizen the Dalai Lama’s influence on the people of India toward the Tibet issue can multiply exponentially. Nowhere does it state in the UN charter that stateless people adopting another country automatically ceases their right to fight for their home country cause.CTA’s support must come out openly, actively and unconditionally.
Tsuglagkhang, the central cathedral or the Dalai Lama’s temple.
Even the Dalai Lama has told some Indian officials he is for it! HH has been in discussion with high level Indian officials who support granting citizenship to Tibetan refugees. Time to move out of “Pango Refugee Mentality” has come! Time to ensure a secure base in the lush towering Western Ghats with citizenship has come! Time to erect a fenced “Tibet City” far away from the locals has indeed arrived! In my next post, I will show the reader how. Until then, stay alert!
NOTE– Mila Rangzen is a US military veteran and a New York based Immigration Translator.
Source: http://www.tibettelegraph.com/2014/06/is-dharamshala-safe-for-tibetans.html
Addendum
Below is another article that details horrific events between the Tibetan and Gaddi communities amidst the rising tensions and fragile harmony between them.
Hate messages after murder escalate tension in McLeodganj
Naresh K Thakur, Hindustan Times
Tension escalated at McLeodganj, a suburb of Dharamshala town, as hate messages started making rounds on the social networking sites following the murder of a Tibetan youth by three locals Friday.
On October 30, Tsultrim Chokden (29), who was returning home along with his female friend around midnight, was stabbed to death by three motorcycle-borne youths when he objected to their acts as they were harassing his female friend. The accused were arrested the following day and are in judicial custody till November 6.
Meanwhile, hate messages targeting the Indian community have started circulating on social networking sites and messaging apps, even as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and Office of Tibetan Settlement has urged people to refrain from sharing objectionable material regarding the incident.
“Hate messages targeting Indians, particularly the tribal Gaddi community, have started circulating. There is a sense of insecurity in the town which may lead to disruption of peace if this is not stopped immediately,” a local resident, on the condition of anonymity, said.
Messages being shared through Facebook and WhatsApp have provocative language and incite Tibetans living in Dharamshala to take revenge for the gruesome murder.
With fake videos being shared prompted Tibetan Settlement Officer Sonam Dorjee to appeal to the exiled community to refrain from sharing provocative messages.
“I have appealed through Facebook that the exiled community should refrain from unrestrained or racist commenting on the incident. What has happened was very unfortunate and the Indian authorities are cooperating to bring the culprits to the justice,” Sonam Dorjee said.
A few anti-social elements, Dorjee said, were trying to disrupt harmony between the Indian and the Tibetan community.
The press officer at CTA’s department of information and international relations (DIIR) Tsering Wangchuk said few people with unknown identities were circulating the hate messages.
“These people are faceless. We have been closely monitoring the activities on social networking sites but it is hard to ascertain who is actually behind these activities,” said Wangchuk.
When contacted, Kangra superintendent of police (SP) Abhishek Dular said adequate arrangements have been made to maintain peace in the area.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Tibetans turned up for a candlelight vigil organised by Tibetan groups in solidarity with the deceased.
Earlier on Monday, the prime witness in the case, the Tibetan girl who was with the deceased on the night of the murder, identified the culprits at the Sessions Court.
Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/hate-messages-after-murder-escalate-tension-in-mcleodganj/story-u2rzfel5QpreED2dQscilM.html
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
Revisit this article again.
Over decades those Tibetans in exile living in India were given help, opportunities from land to building houses, free educations and so forth by the India government. Yet in return the locals Indian communities were given nothing back. The Tibetan in exile have much more than any other refugee community in the world. It somehow creates disharmony in Dharamsala among the locals and those Tibetans people living in exile. The Tibetan and local communities rise tensions and fragile harmony between them. And its not safe anymore living at Dharamsala whereby ugly incidents happened here and then. That’s the reason why many Tibetans are leaving, looking for greener pastures and safety else where. The ban of Dorje Shugden is therefore unnecessary .
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
The articles presented here do not address the root causes of the animosity between the Tibetan and Gaddis, the summary at the start of the article to me is eye opening and for me is very close to the fact that supports the long drawn animosity between these two communities.
The Tibetans are clearly the people who have imposed onto the Gaddi’s traditional land and they have not done much to make ‘friends’ with their hosts. Reading the article I feel somewhat annoyed that the author only thinks one dimensionally, and it is the fault of others and there is no way that the Tibetans contributed and aggravated the situation. That is also part of the problem, but one should not be surprised if the Tibetans can create divisions amongst their own people, to create a gulf between themselves and the Gaddis.
The Tibetans should really wake up, to go back their homeland the old heroes of old is not practical and ain’t going to happen, so if you intend to stay in India, please be kind to everyone in your community and other races and tribes in the area where you live. Its is only human.
It is always easier to blame others for your own suffering than to accept and change your own circumstances. It’s instant and requires the least effort.
It also has nothing to do with the object of one’s blame but everything to do with oneself.
So the Gaddi blame the Tibetans, the Tibetans blame the Chinese, the Chinese will also sooner or later blame somebody else. And the cycle of blame will continue to burn in samsara.
Before reading this article, I always have in mind that the Tibetan refugees are safe in India and are protected by the Indian government. This article brought open eyes to me that, the situation of Tibetan in India is not better than in China. Maybe, Tibetan in China have more freedom and rights than Tibetan in India.
Thus, I have do some read up and found some of the fatcs –
More than 150,000 Tibetan refugees have been in Dharamsala following in the footsteps of the 14th Dalai Lama during the past 50 years or since Chinese occupation of Tibet in year 1949.
All Tibetans in India are viewed in policy and practice as “foreigners.” Being treated as a “foreigner” significantly restricts the lives of Tibetans in India – from property ownership, to employment, to freedom of movement within and outside of India. Thus, the current situation is that Tibetans in India live in an uncertain position, restricted from exercising the full rights of citizens, and vulnerable to changes in political will.
Take notes that on H.H Dalai Lama status, H.H is not granted under the status of refugee. To this day, the Indian government refers to the Dalai Lama simply as an “honored guest” and cultivates a studied ambiguity relative to his legal status in India.
In January 18 2015, The Election Commission’s directive allowing Tibetan refugees to register for voter identity card for Delhi Assembly elections, which will help them acquire Indian citizenship, has not been welcomed by all and created a deep chasm within the exiled community. Those against acquiring citizenship rights argue that the Tibetans living in India must remain refugees as becoming an Indian citizen would “dilute the struggle” for a free Tibet. They believes that the moment Tibetans give up their nationality and swear loyalty to another country, they lose their authority to speak as a Tibetan.
The Tibetan belief that once they get the India Citizenship, the feeling to ‘fight’ back to their motherland- Tibet will vanished. That is one of the reasons that the Tibetan refused the India citizenship. But, in this article I am surprise that the CTA officials have passports and secure homes, while the exile Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay can move his family to an all expense paid home in Boston, and Home Minister Dolma Gyari has a big house in Delhi, to me, this shown that they do not even care for their Tibetan in Excile. Refugee in a country remains as the refugees status, can never gets their human dignity in right way. They are not the citizens of the country, thus, the CTA not only not educate their people in this matter, not fight for their Tibetan; instead, they get the rights and authority.
I wonder a normal Tibetan already treated badly by local people how about those Tibetan who are label as Dorje Shugden’s practitioner and were outcast by their own Tibetan, The scenario could be worst.
Instead of bullied own Tibetan people, what have the CTA done to bring welfare to their own Tibetan refugees. For 50 years, the CTA have failed to bring their people back to Tibet as they have promised. Now, by reading this article, I think it is worst that the CTA have not tried anything to bring any welfare to their own people, and the Tibetan remain uneducated, poor and being bullied.
The CTA have failed his people terribly .
It is deplorable and made me sick to my stomach reading this article. No one should be subject to this level of abuse or negelect in a community. India is one of if not the largest Democracies on the planet. It’s sad to see Tibetans living in India still going through all of this, it’s saddening.
Feeling sad for those Tibetan ,they are either harassed, raped, mob and worst killed and thrown at the roadside.That is sad,how on earth the local did these to the Tibetan. Dharamshala is just not safe for Tibetans unless the government do more to help the Tibetan refugees or else more horrific events between the Tibetan and Gaddi communities will happen.If the CTA can help the Tibetans in India to get citizenship,whereby they have confidence, rights, , legal protection, land and so forth. If the government can maintain a peaceful area then they would not be harassed.
Thank you for sharing this article ..so more people will know the sufferings faced by the Tibetans living in India.
This is something new i never knew. I never thought Tibetans would be going through such hardships and they would be treated like that by the locals. Though I don’t know who are at real fault, I think there must a mutual consideration through high officials. This is very disturbing and sad to know. Government must look into the matters. 🙁
It’s indeed shocking to be reading these sort of abuse Tibetans do have to suffer even in their place of refuge Dharamsala or Dhasa. I am very much surprised with this actually to be honest and do think why CTA are not doing anything (at least none of the things they even will do are unheard of) to protect their own kind. Maybe it is just nothing much for them in their eyes as the main motivation is supposed to be regaining Tibet independence. What has happened to the monies collected from donations from all over the world? Were they used properly or just what they feel like doing. I was told that there were some videos and books being produced to spread critical informations of Dorje Shugden by CTA in it’s bid to smear Dorje Shugden and make general public believe what their claims. For me, why would they even bother to do so? You might argue it is to counter what China is doing to so called promote the practice of Dorje Shugden. Then my question will be why even use money to invest into these videos and books for mass distributions when you should have spent it on your citizens and community of India? Why not built a strong foundation for Tibetans to be grateful and repay the kindness of The Indian Government this way too? Tibetans won’t suffer hardship for no reasons and generally I agree to what was mentioned in the article itself. It has been 50 over years since Tibetans stayed over in a foreign land. I always feel they are and will be much better off if they are to return to Tibet now by looking at the situation. CTA will not be able to reclaim Tibet as they are too weak and trying to separate their own people rather than uniting them.
Thank you for sharing this article. I didn’t know Tibetans in Dharamsala are suffering from racism and CTA (so called their government) is not doing about it. I agree with what the writer Surenda Kapoor said, the bad treatment from the local community towards the Tibetans are not without any reason. Tibetans as a refugee and considered minority in India do receive more benefits than the local Indians. I was told certain percentage of government job and opportunity to study in the university is reserved to the Tibetans. When the government fails to take care of their people and perceived to be taking better care of the immigrants, it is not surprised that the locals will hate the Tibetans.
What will CTA do to this? How will CTA help Tibetan people to live without fear in India? If CTA’s job is to ensure the safety of the Tibetan in exile, they have failed it big time.
It is really more than sad that I read the stories in this article. Is it necessary for Tibetans in exile to suffer so much? Recently there is also grave discrimination against neutralised Tibetans in USA. Why is it so?
It is from the wisdom quote “UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL” as so much division had been cultivated within the Tibetans in exile. What comes to my mind is the discrimination, abuse and division among Tibetans over the issue of Dorje Shugden.
On that note, what comes to my mind is what is the CTA doing about all this? Is it impossible to do something to protect Tibetans by and large?
Although living under status of refugees in India, can the CTA not have any rights for human protection or even have some negotiation power with the Host (Indian) authorities for assistance.
Surely having hosted Tibetans for over 50 years, the Indian Government will continue their support.
It is my sad opinion that CTA do not work for their people and over 56 years of lack of result is testament.
In any place where anybody moves to, all have to learn to integrate into the local demographics especially so in this case where the refugees were granted land but the locals had no aid whatsoever.
Activities that includes locals should be encouraged. There should be activities to give back to the community that they are to become a part of.
‘No man is an island” we are all dependent on each other so we have to be friends and help each other. Karma does come back to you.
I got shocked when i came across this article. All the while i though the Tibetan refugees are living in peace at Dharamsala together with H.H.DL and their Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). Very little i know that the refugees were severely harassed, raped, mob and worst killed and thrown at the roadside.
Tibetan refugees have lived in India for more than half a decade, very little the government has done to make their people’s life better, get Identity card, build schools, improved the community wealth fare.
China is confirmed will not tolerate any attempts to free Tibet, that is for sure. China is so powerful that even USA will not dare to steps on their toes. So what is CTA? A bunch of people called themself “Government” who collected millions of USD donations and spend on their own family and enjoyment? Tibetan people has to see thru this, the people need to make some drastic changes to make their future better.
Anyone who read through the article and put a picture to the sentence by sentence, word by word, will be sick in the stomach at the end of the article. No human being should be subjected to this abuse, attack, rape and humiliation on a prolonged basis for no reason. This is what is happening to the Tibetan refugees in India. While the Gaddi people are the culprit in causing the physical harm in these examples, but the plight of Tibetan refugees are result of a self-fattening Tibetan leadership for the community in exile. The CTA is incapable of navigating through the human issues with locals and the authorities, nor are they able to create an environment that allows for mutual respect and harmony. This is the same group of people who sanctioned the ban on Dorje Shugden for 20 years; creating same amount of fear, humiliation, attack and pain on their own people on top of the harsh attack from Gaddi people that Tibetan refugee has to endure. If this is not treason, what is it? Conclusion, Dharamsala is not safe for the Tibetan refugees. Whether India will openly accept the refugee as part of their citizen largely depends on many factors, e.g. the economic climate between Sino-India. Even if the people are granted with citizenship, the treatment will not likely to change overnight.
This is certainly not good news at all. Wow I didn’t know there was so much tension and hatred on Tibetans in exile living in Dharamsala. I am sorry to hear of their hardships, abused and social hate, but it does make one wonder what have caused them to be hated by the locals? Have they not integrated well enough? What have they done to trigger this animosity towards them? Like what Rinpoche said it could the arrogance coming from the wealthier Tibetans.
However, in general it feels like Tibetans did not give back to the society there and did not integrate well at all. Otherwise this would not happen, and what is CTA doing about it? Absolutely nothing and instead of encouraging Tibetans all to be united, they launch a book and a documentary to further segregate, discriminate and divide their own people. How ridiculous is that?
Tibetans should really stop picking on Dorje Shugden practitioners as they are their own people! And they should unite together and stand together if they want to have a solidarity voice. Otherwise I am sorry to say that they will just have to accept their karma back for discriminating others. I guess the locals must be fed up and obviously not happy with the Tibetans. Looks like there is more peace and religious freedom in China than in Dharamsala, India.
Reading this article really shows that there is discrimination everywhere in the world and in every religion although the religions themselves teach everything that the world is not. As the contributor Surendra Kapoor says, the disparity between the Tibetans and the local Indians were great. One side living on the kindness of others and the locals eking for their living. And on top of that the Tibetans looked down on the locals while occupying land that rightly belong to the locals. Not surprised that the locals feel they have the right to be nasty. Of course that doesn’t mean that the locals should go against the law by beating or raping the Tibetans. CTA should have approached the Indian Authorities to work together in firmly confronting the situation rather than what cowardly CTA is doing. Again CTA lets their people suffer rather than take responsibility.
As I read the article, the events relate so closely to what the Shugden practitioners are facing from their own people who are Anti-Shugdens. It really seem as if Karma is playing a role here. Again whilst not condoning the violent acts, I feel that it serves the Anti-Shugden Tibetans an understanding of what they themselves put the Shugden practitioners through. Why are they asking for rights when they subject others to the same treatment? Somehow I don’t think that their own terrible actions even cross their minds in relations to the abuse from the Gaddi men/mob. Maybe if they right their wrongs towards the Shugden practioners, practice humbleness and charity towards the local, the situation will turn around. After all they are occupying someone else’s land and living on generosity of others.
If India is agreeable to integrating them as citizens I really do wonder if the locals will view them any different. Will the Indian laws then be applicable in protection for the new citizens? There was a mentioned that China will quake with fear of the Dalai Lama being a citizen of India. We will just have to wait and see how it goes. In the meantime, the Tibetans should realise the sufferings imposed on Shugden pracitioners and seek to lift the ban. Shugden practitioners are not your enemy as they too are Tibetans-in-exile.