_________________WTN-L World Tibet Network News _________________
Published by: The Canada Tibet Committee
Editorial Board: Brian Given, Conrad Richter, Nima Dorjee,
Tseten Samdup, Thubten (Sam) Samdup
WTN Editors: wtn-editors@tibet.ca
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ISSUE ID: 00/01/25 Compiled by Tseten Samdup
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Tuesday, January 25, 2000
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Contents:
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1. India urged to allow Tibetan boy lama to travel to Sikkim (AFP)
2. To travel to Tibet (GM)
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1. India urged to allow Tibetan boy lama to travel to Sikkim (AFP)
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NEW DELHI, Jan 24 (AFP) - An Indo-Tibetan solidarity group on Monday urged
New Delhi to allow a Tibetan boy lama who fled his homeland this month to
travel to his monastery in the islolated Indian state of Sikkim.
Spokesmen for the Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association said the
14-year-old Karmapa Lama -- spiritual head of one of the four schools of
Tibetan Buddhism -- should go to the exiled headquarters of his Kagyu sect
in Sikkim.
Kunzang Sherab, an Indian Buddhist from Sikkim, said the local community
had written to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee asking him to
permit the Karmapa to pursue his religious education at the Rumtek
monastery there.
China does not recognise Sikkim, a tiny state sandwiched between China,
Nepal and Bhutan, as a part of India.
"We are confident that the Karmapa will be able to go to his spiritual home
in Rumtek and that the government of India will honour and respect our
sentiments," Sherab said.
Lama Chosphel Zotpa, a Tibetan exile in India, said India should ignore
Chinese pressure and grant political asylum to the Karmapa.
The Karmapa fled Tibet late last month and arrived in India on January 5
after a harrowing journey over the Himalayas.
"In such a situation, the Indian government has to provide him protection,"
said lawyer Deepak Thakur, a Buddhist. "The state should not expel him."
Chinese Ambassador to India Zhou Gang said Monday he hoped the Karmapa
would return to Tibet soon and warned against any attempt to politicise his
presence in India.
"We hope that his presence here will not cause any political activity
against China by forces hostile to China," Zhou was quoted as saying by the
Press Trust of India.
Meanwhile, Thakur and Sherab dismissed concerns that the Karmapa's arrival
in Sikkim could trigger a violent revival of a long-running dispute within
the Kagyu sect, which is divided over the Karmapa's true identity.
"Ninety percent of Sikkim's 450,000 Buddhists are with the Karmapa. Where
is the question of violence?" asked Sherab. "And violence against whom? We
are all peace loving people."
The Karmapa's "escape" from Tibet was seen as a major embarrassment for
Beijing, which had presented him as a model patriot.
He is recognised as the 17th Karmapa by both Beijing and the Dalai Lama,
whose government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama has been
living in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959.
The Karmapa's presence has also posed problems for India, which does not
want to antagonise Beijing but wishes to continue its long-standing support
to Tibetan exiles. India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans.
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2. To travel to Tibet (GM)
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Guy Dixon
The Globe and Mail, Saturday, January 22, 2000
It exists in the Western imagination somewhere near Shangri-la.
It also occupies a geopolitical zone east of Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's
Indian residence-in-exile, and west of Beijing's encroaching party-line and
capitalism. For its Western followers, it's in the furthest corner of the
world and at the centre of it.
The pilgrims and backpackers who make the journey will find -- descending
into the Tibetan capital Lhasa, awakening from altitude sickness -- that
much of the spiritual world is a lot like the world they left
behind. At the foot of the Potala, the Dalai Lama's enormous former
residence, the roads are stark with building sites and tourist kiosks.
Closest to the sacred site, prostitution and kareoke bars have pushed the
Tibetan neighbourhoods farther away.
ADDING UP THE BILLS
Tours to Tibet can easily cost more than $5,000 or $6,000 including air
fare. New York-based Himalayan International Tours (telephone 212-564-5164)
offers a 15-day tour of Tibet for $4,468 (U.S.) a person including air fare
from New York, first-class accommodations and ground transportation around
Tibet. Flights are via Delhi and Kathmandu and connecting flights can be
arranged from other U.S. cities. Other tours include time in Nepal and
India.
Numerous companies offer similar tours,some originating from the city of
Chengdu in China. These normally don't include air fare from North America
and generally cost $1,400 (Canadian) for a week in Lhasa and its immediate
area or up to $2,800 for 12- to 15-day tours.
Annexed by China in 1950, Tibet is open to preorganized group tours,though
individual travellers are unofficially discouraged, less so
during the off season. Sometimes individuals who use Chengdu or Kathmandu
in Nepal as their gateway into Tibet are persuaded, for instance, to pay
for a driver and guide in order to obtain a visa.
Backpackers often get around this by forming impromptu groups either in
Chengdu or Kathmandu. It's almost impossible for backpackers in the region
not to meet other like-minded travellers. It's also easier to skirt
visa restrictions by travelling over land than by air.
For those with visas,flights from Chengdu, often thought of as the easiest
passage to Lhasa, cost around $345. Air fare on Cathay Pacific from Toronto
to Chengdu, via Hong Kong and a transfer to Dragon Airlines, costs around
$2,500 for advanced bookings.
Human rights and Tibetan organizations in the West encourage Westerners to
travel to Tibet, though they are of mixed minds about package tours. Most
note that the Dalai Lama encourages Westerners to see the political
situation in Tibet and judge for themselves. The argument against, commonly
given by pro-Tibetan independence groups, is that most of the money,
particularly from hotel accommodations and guided tours, goes directly to
Chinese business and therefore supports the
Chinese regime.
The recent defection of the 14-year-old Karmapa Lama to India is likely to
cause more of a clamp down by the Chinese authorities, at least for a
while. For anyone who follows the advice of Tibetan organizations in the
West and seeks contact with native Tibetans, remember the area is carefully
controlled.
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