Karmapa Eescapeâ India asks China, how did it happen?

(Hindustan Times New Delhi, January 14 )

IN A neat diplomatic manoeuvre, India today passed the ball on to China's court, so to speak, by asking it to explain how the 17th Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje managed to travel the long arduous route to Dharamsala.

"The Chinese side has been asked to share with us specific details regarding his departure from Tibet, the route taken and other relevant details," the official spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry said.

The request to share China's knowledge about the sensational arrival of the third highest ranking Tibetan Buddhist monk in India was made when Chinese Ambassador Zhou Gang called on Joint Secretary (East Asia) T. C. R. Rangachary in the Ministry.

The prolonged period of introspection by India thus came to an end today with a substantive move. Ever since the story of the great escape broke, the Ministry had endeavoured to stay away from elaborate statements by sticking determinedly to a single-sentence reaction saying that it was inquiring into the circumstances of the boy-monk's arrival.

This impressively circumspect position was maintained even in the face of a veiled threat issued by China that granting political asylum to the Karmapa would be violative of the Panchsheel. New Delhi simply refused to be drawn into a verbal encounter with Beijing.

By asking for an explanation of how the 14-year-old boy, by all accounts a highly prized instrument in Beijing's hands, managed to escape from his virtual confinement in a severely secured and inhospitable country, New Delhi has introduced a new phase into the episode.

The implications of the seemingly innocuous Indian request are obvious: since the Chinese position is that the Karmapa has not escaped but gone merely on a pilgrimage in search of "the musical instruments of the Buddhist mass and the black hats used by the previous Living Buddha," Beijing should be in the full know of the circumstances in which his journey was undertaken and its purpose. In that case, there should be no inhibition on its part to share such information with New Delhi.

India's next move will now await the Chinese response to the request for the relevant information. To that extent, it has gained valuable time and space for further manoeuvering. In short, the Karmapa episode is not in for a quick and easy conclusion.

The Ministry spokesman said that in response to a request made by the Chinese Government, the Ministry today informed it that the Lama, accompanied by six others, arrived in Dharamsala on Jan. 5.

"He and his entourage are currently at a monastery near Dharamsala," he said. "They are in good health. The Lama has been provided appropriate security cover."

India and China also noted with "satisfaction" the sound momentum in the bilateral relations and the process of improvement and development of these relations "on the basis of the Panchsheel (the five principles of peaceful coexistence) by the concerted efforts of the two countries," the spokesman said.

India is also home to some 100,000 Tibetan exiles.