My Heart Bleeds For Tibet – OpEd

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I am not a Tibetan. I am not a Buddhist. I have never visited Tibet. I have never spoken to venerable the Dalai Lama. I have only seen his face in television. I have never interacted with any Tibetan and exchanged views with him. However, I have studied about Tibet’s glorious history, tradition and culture. From whatever I have read, I have developed deep admiration for this country, that is located in a remote corner of the world and at a height not seen by many people and the people in the past leading nearly a natural life without being influenced by the negative forces of the modern era.

My heart bleeds when I realize that this glorious country with peaceful people was invaded by China with it’s military might and brought the country under its total control. It mercilessly drove out venerable the Dalai Lama and hundreds of his followers who were forced to leave their dear country and seek refugee status elsewhere.

Tibet has been grievously wronged and as yet, even after several decades, there is no sign that Tibet will regain its old glory and become an independent country, for the Tibetans to live with their cherished values.

However, something in me tells me that Tibet will get independence before long, though the skeptics may not share my view. All I wish is that I should see in my life time a free and independent Tibet getting justice for all the harm that has been done to it.

China, the occupier of Tibet and with ruthless approach to achieve its objectives with least consideration for ethical values, has no inclination to quit Tibet.

China is a dictatorial country and the people in China do not have their freedom to express their views on such matters. However, the views of people of China need not be the same as the rulers of China and there could be many Chinese who have ethical standards for themselves and may in all probability desire that Tibet should get its independence back. As of now, nobody has heard such sane voice in this iron curtained country.

Apart from the merciless and vengeful attitude of China towards the call for Tibet’s independence, what causes me even more anguish is that some Tibetans seem to be reconciling themselves to the occupation of China by Tibet and are pleading with the Chinese government to give autonomy for Tibet within the overall governance and control of China.

Certainly, such appeal for autonomy has been looked upon with contempt by the Chinese government and the Chinese leadership must now be having hearty laugh over such autonomy pleadings.

Of course, the thoughtful Tibetans would be finding it difficult to understand as to what would be such autonomy for Tibet under Chinese government like. Expecting autonomy for Tibet under Chinese government is similar to the act of an unarmed man standing before a hungry tiger and expecting that it would not maul the person.

Today, the Tibetans living in Tibet who were born much after China’s aggressive occupation , should have been brainwashed by the Chinese government making them think that they are essentially Chinese citizens. In all probability, the present generation of Tibetans in Tibet may not be aware of the glory of Tibet and the history lessons for the students would have been completely re written in the way that the Chinese government want.

The Tibetans who have left Tibet after the Chinese occupation and their descendants now live in different countries either as refugees or the citizens of the countries where they have domiciled. Perhaps, for some of the present generation of Tibetans living abroad, Tibet as a country may be of only historical value, since they have not seen Tibet and had no opportunity to learn about it’s glorious traditions.. This situation is what the Chinese government want ,with almost all the governments in the world reconciling themselves to a world without Tibet as an independent country.

Given this scenario, the Tibetans living outside Tibet should not dilute the objective of independent Tibet and say that autonomy status for Tibet under China would be appropriate. In other words, such voices essentially give up the idea of Tibet as an independent country entirely and permanently.

As my heart bleeds for Tibet’s freedom, I only pray that Tibetans living outside Tibet, wherever they are, should keep their spirit that Tibet should be an independent country sooner or later. Certainly, there must be thousands of Tibetans across the world whose heart bleed for Tibet just as the way my heart does.

History has shown on several occasions that ultimately justice has been done to a wronged country or wronged person sooner or later.

N. S. Venkataraman

N. S. Venkataraman is a trustee with the "Nandini Voice for the Deprived," a not-for-profit organization that aims to highlight the problems of downtrodden and deprived people and support their cause. To promote probity and ethical values in private and public life and to deliberate on socio-economic issues in a dispassionate and objective manner.

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