_________________ 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: 00/03/11 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup

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Saturday, March 11, 2000 (II)

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Contents:

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1. China warns India on Karmapa issue

2. Karmapa's role played down

3. Dalai has manipulated Karmapa: Chinese official

4. Into the Darkness

Details of the Karmapa's Grueling Escape

5. Karmapa's parents `not under arrest'

6. Panchen pledges to be patriotic

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1. China warns India on Karmapa issue

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The Hindu -- March 10, 2000

BEIJING, MARCH 9. China today cautioned New Delhi against attempts by

the Dalai Lama to ``split'' China by using the 14- year-old Karmapa, who

fled to India early this year.

``We are firmly opposed to any attempt by any person to use the Karmapa

issue to engage in political activities aimed at splitting China,''

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr. Zhu Bangzao, told reporters

here.

He was responding to the Dalai Lama's comments in a television interview

that some Indian officials have indicated to him that New Delhi would

allow the 17th Karmapa to remain in the country.

Mr. Zhu said,``the Dalai Lama clique and some other forces abroad always

wanted to use the 17th Karmapa for their purpose.''

However, India has not conveyed any such decision to China, Mr. Zhu

said. ``I don't have any confirmation from the Indian side,'' he said.

China has ``indicated on many occasions'' to the Indian side that New

Delhi should ``keep in mind the five principles of peaceful co-existence

and handle the issue with prudence in the overall interest of bilateral

relations.''

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2. Karmapa's role played down

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JOSEPHINE MA in Beijing

South China Morning Post

Friday, March 10, 2000

The Karmapa Lama, who left China for India last December, was just one

of the many living Buddhas in Tibet, Raidi, Vice-Secretary of the

Communist Party in Tibet, said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the NPC, Mr Raidi denied

overseas reports that the parents of the Karmapa Lama had been detained.

"The reports [of their detention] were groundless. The parents had lived

comfortably in Lhasa earlier. They returned to their hometown when

spring came to look after their livestock," he said.

He also denied that the lama's bodyguards at the Tsurphu Monastery were

in custody.

He accused the Dalai Lama and some unspecified "foreign forces" of

harbouring ulterior motives to call the Karmapa Lama, 14, Tibet's second

most important lama.

"There are only two major figures in Tibetan Buddhism. One is the Dalai

Lama and the other one is the Panchen Lama. Those who called the Karmapa

Lama the No 2 do not understand much about Tibetan history," Mr Raidi

said.

He said there were 300 to 400 living Buddhas in Tibet.

The White Sect - a branch headed by the Karmapa Lama - only represented

an insignificant portion of the Tibetan population, he said.

Mr Raidi sidestepped questions over whether Beijing would welcome the

Karmapa Lama's return to Tibet, but repeated that he had gone to India

to reclaim religious relics and that he had promised not to betray

China.

Mr Raidi said Beijing's communication channel with the Dalai Lama's

exiled government remained open and smooth despite the "departure" of

the Karmapa Lama.

But the Dalai Lama must recognise Taiwan was a province of China,

abandon calling for Tibet's independence and accept Beijing as China's

only legitimate government if he wanted to start negotiations, Mr Raidi

said.

Although the Karmapa Lama has kept a low profile since his arrival in

Dharamsala, he has appeared in public with the Dalai Lama, including

when the Dalai Lama celebrated the 60th anniversary of his enthronement

last month.

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3, Dalai has manipulated Karmapa: Chinese official

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The Times of India, March 10, 2000

BEIJING: -- A senior official in Chinese-ruled Tibet accused the Dalai

Lama on Thursday of trying to manipulate the teenage Karmapa, who fled

to India early this year, and denied a reported crackdown on the young

cleric's monastery and family.

Revealing a sense of betrayal over the Karmapa's flight, the head of the

Tibetan legislature said the government made great efforts to care for

and educate the 14-year-old Lama. Raidi, No. 2 in Tibet's Communist

Party hierarchy, refused to say whether the Karmapa was welcome to

return. Like many Tibetans, he uses only one name.

A news conference Raidi held for foreign reporters was consumed by

contentious exchanges over two important and controversial young clerics

- the Karmapa and the boy who disappeared after being named Panchen

Lama. In both cases, Raidi painted the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled

spiritual leader, as the enemy.

After allowing the Karmapa's investiture in 1992, China took the boy on

tours of the country and imposed no restrictions on his religious

activities at Tsurphu monastery in Tibet, said Raidi. He said the

government even sent police to control the crowds who showed up for

important festivals at Tsurphu.

When fleeing Tibet in secret, the Karmapa left a letter behind. Raidi,

who said he saw the letter, quoted it as saying: "My leaving today is

not a betrayal against my motherland, against the people, against the

monastery or against the leaders of the government."

But since arriving at the exiled Tibetan government's headquarters in

Dharamsala in January, the Karmapa has decried the lack of freedom in

Tibet. Raidi blamed the Dalai Lama.

"The Dalai clique and some foreign forces have all along attempted to

control and use the 17th Karmapa to serve their own ulterior motives,"

said Raidi. "We stand firmly against any political activities by any

person in any form to split the motherland under the pretext of the

Karmapa issue."

He said reports that the Karmapa's parents and people at Tsurphu had

been detained "were totally groundless". The youth's parents left their

Lhasa home recently to return to their pastures to care for their herds

in the spring, he said.

Likewise, Raidi said the Dalai Lama violated religious practices in 1995

by unilaterally naming a six-year-old Tibetan as Panchen Lama, widely

regarded as Tibet's second most important cleric. The boy, who turns 11

next month, has not been seen in public since a few days after the Dalai

Lama's announcement.

"This boy was not the reincarnated soul boy of the Panchen Lama. He's

just an ordinary Chinese boy. As far as I know, he's now living a happy

life," Raidi said. "He's a primary school student, and I hear his grades

are pretty good."

He refused to say where in China the boy and his family were living. He

denied reports that the boy had been put in prison or custody. He said

foreigners were not allowed to see the child because it would be too

disruptive. (AP)

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4. Into the Darkness

Details of the Karmapa's Grueling Escape

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By Rita Beamish

Second of Two Parts

Special to ABCNEWS.com

March 9 - It was bitterly cold the night of Dec. 28. At Tsurphu

monastery, the Karmapa shed his monk's robes for brown trousers and a

jacket. At 10:30 p.m. he leaped from his bedroom window into the

darkness and an adjacent roof.

A driver, another monk and a Land Cruiser vehicle waited outside.

Beneath the rooftop, Chinese guards, believing the Karmapa was holed up

in his room on a spiritual retreat, watched TV.

In a heart-stopping moment, a security monk almost spotted him, but the

monk waiting with the car called out "Have you seen my driver?" alerting

the Karmapa.

He laid low and the danger passed. With three companions - one a monk in

his sixties - he drove into the night.They picked up another monk and a

second driver. The Land Cruiser, its heater mercifully purring, sped

toward the Nepali border some 570 miles away. Now, they would rely on

the meticulously laid plan of the scouting team.

Across the Land Of Snows

The Karmapa chose a route not commonly used by fleeing Tibetans, who

have tended to favor a shorter, treacherous route across a glacier pass

nearer Mount Everest.

He veered instead across an arid expanse toward remote Mustang. Late on

the second night, the car neared a Chinese military base and checkpoint

in western Tibet. Fearing capture, the Karmapa and three companions got

out and hiked four hours across steep, trail-less terrain, losing their

way and tearing their frozen hands on brambles when they stumbled.

This trek in frigid darkness was described as the most physically taxing

part of the journey.

"It was very, very difficult for them to be on that mountain because

it's really like a wild place," said Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, a

U.S-based lama who is close to the Karmapa.

The car meanwhile slipped past the checkpoint with lights off. Its two

occupants looked futilely for the delayed hikers. Puzzled, they drove

on. With dawn approaching, panic enveloped the escapees, each group

believing the other had been captured.

Eventually the driver became convinced he had gone too far, and turned

back. He spotted the Karmapa's group hiking along the road. The reunion

was one of relief.

Past History with the CIA

They turned left toward the geographical bulge along northern Nepal,

passed an unmanned border post, and emerged through undulating mountains

that unfold into the high desert of Mustang. This was friendly territory

for Tibetans.

During the Cold War, Mustang had hosted CIA-backed Tibetan guerrillas

who resisted China's occupation of their homeland.

Today its Tibetan Buddhist population survives by trading and herding

yaks and sheep. Tourism is budding since Nepal opened the onetime

kingdom to foreigners in 1992. The Karmapa chose not to dally, however.

Nepali police sometimes turned back Tibetan illegals.

"With the Karmapa with them, every minute of the trip was so full of

fear," said Ngodup Burkhar, a translator who spoke to the escapees. "If

the Nepalese authorities could spot him anywhere in Nepal, he could have

been in serious trouble."

Through the Forbidden Kingdom

The road ended not far over the border. They abandoned the car, a

road-less Mustang stretching before them. Accomplices helped them

procure horses. Riding for two hours, they arrived at the walled city of

Lo Manthang, its sun-baked houses rising mirage-like from a treeless

valley.

The next morning they rode south into the Kali Gandaki River Valley,

picking their way across 35 miles of wind-whipped terrain so

inhospitable that most of Mustang's residents spend winters in the

warmer climes of Kathmandu and Pokhara.

There were two southbound options - the main trading and trekking trail

connecting villages of flat-roofed houses, or a river path between

steep, cave-flecked cliffs, a likely choice that would shave several

hours from the ride.

The group rode all day and into an ebony night, then split up at a fork

leading south to the district capital, Jomosom, and east to the

forbidding Thorung La Pass.

The Karmapa and three companions headed to Thorung La despite the

availability of commercial flights just two hours away in Jomosom - a

city where they might get unwanted attention.

The 8,500-foot climb, over terrain so steep that horses sometimes had to

be walked, was not an obvious choice.

"That is a killer pass," said Victor Chan, author of "Tibet Handbook,"

who suffered altitude sickness during a snowy crossing a few years back.

"It's easy to lose your way."

The risk did not addle them.

"These were people with a mission," said Sullivan. "They knew that this

was a very difficult and dangerous undertaking. These people are so

tough. They've been through so much, they're so strong of heart and

sturdy of limb - and smart."

And lucky. Little snow had fallen. That would render the pass no more

than a long slog, albeit a frigid one - "a really good challenge at that

time of year" but not insurmountable, said Steve Conlon, executive

director of Above the Clouds Trekking.

Once over the pass, they rested in the hillside village of Manang. It

was out of the way, but it kept the Karmapa away from the bureaucratic

hub of Jomosom where he might attract attention from police. In the

morning they chartered a helicopter - just like any trekking or business

group - to lowlands near Kathmandu.

Onward to India

The Karmapa caught a taxi to the Indian border, a train to Lucknow, and

a taxi for the final leg to Delhi and Dharamsala. But the ordeal was not

over

Nearing Dharamsala in a fog, the driver lost control of the car on a

narrow, winding road, Sullivan said. The car flipped. No one was hurt

and the group was delayed only as long as it took to call another car.

Safe with the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile, the Karmapa is enjoying

India's good will and waiting for the official residency status Delhi

has given thousands of Tibetan refugees. He immerses himself in

spiritual studies and grants audiences to rapt followers.

He taps on his laptop into the night, one aide said, busily composing

poetry. Followers hopefully forecast a time when the Karmapa might

follow in the Dalai Lama's prominent global footsteps.

From the Karmapa's North American headquarters in Woodstock, N.Y., the

Buddhist community monitors news of its leader. One teacher, Bardor

Tulku Rinpoche, telephoned him after the trip. Bardor Tulku had worked

for many years with the 16th Karmapa, and later visited his young

reincarnation in Tibet.

"How are you? Are you tired?" Bardor Tulku asked him by telephone after

the ordeal.

With understatedness, the high-level monk replied: "A little."

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5. Karmapa's parents `not under arrest'

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By Fong Tak-ho in Beijing

The Hong Kong Standard, 3/10/00

STORY: THE Tibetan Autonomous Region head has flatly denied that the

Karmapa Lama's parents and bodyguards have been detained after the

``Living Buddha'' fled to India to join his spiritual leader, the Dalai

Lama. Mr Raidi also hinted that an investigation is being conducted to

trace the Karmapa's escape route. `Western media reports saying the

Karmapa's parents and bodyguards have been detained are groundless

claims made with ulterior motives,'' he said.

He claimed the parents were ``grateful for the years of caring the

Tibetan administration had given to the Karmapa'' when he saw them at

Lhasa not long ago. According to Mr Raidi, they continue to live

happily. When asked about the route of the Karmapa's flight, Mr Raidi

said the Karmapa went out of the country via the western side of Tibet.

He declined to directly comment on whether the Karmapa can return to

Tibet without punishment. When pressed on the issue, Mr Raidi

reiterated the official Xinhua account that he had left a letter saying

he was not betraying the country, the monastery and the leadership.

A government spokesman meanwhile accused the Dalai Lama of exploiting

the 14-year-old Karmapa to promote independence. ``The Dalai Lama

clique and some foreign forces have always wanted to use the 17th

Karmapa for their own purpose,'' foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao

said. The young lama fled from Tibet where mainland officials had

hoped to use him to legitimise their contested presence. When he joined

the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, mainland officials

said he had gone to retrieve a black hat, which is a holy relic, and

would return.

Mr Zhu said he had not heard of reports that the Karmapa planned to stay

indefinitely in India, but said the Indian government should be wary of

granting him asylum. India should ``proceed from the overall interest

of bilateral relations and handle this issue prudently and properly,''

Mr Zhu said. ``The attempt of any person to use the Karmapa issue to

engage in political activities aimed at splitting China is what we are

firmly opposed to.'' The Tsurphu monastery, the traditional seat of the

Karmapa Lama, and the Reting monastery were named as Tibet's leading

``patriotic monasteries'' by the Central Government.

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6. Panchen pledges to be patriotic

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The Times of India -- March 10, 2000

BEIJING: The 11th Panchen Lama, Tibet's second most important religious

figure, has promised to be patriotic and work for maintaining national

unity in China.

The 11th Panchen Lama and representatives of the Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery,

the residence for successive Panchen Lamas, said that they would carry

on the patriotic tradition of the previous Panchen Lamas and work

towards maintaining national unity in China, the official Xinhua news

agency reported Wednesday night.

The nine-year-old was responding to comments made by a senior Chinese

official at a function here Wednesday where the Panchen presented a

silver plaque to the Chinese central government. Receiving the plaque on

behalf of the Chinese government, state councillor and secretary general

of the State Council, China's cabinet, Wang Zhongyu said that Beijing

hoped the 11th Panchen Lama would continue to make contributions to

Tibet's development and progress as well as the advancement of Tibetan

Buddhism and socialism.

Ever since the 14-year-old 17th Karmapa Lama escaped to India early this

year, Chinese officials have been urging Tibet's living Buddhas and

Lamas to be patriotic and support the ruling Communist Party of China.

The plague bears the national emblem of People's Republic of China with

a message which warmly congratulates the 50th anniversary of the

founding of the ``Great People's Republic of China''.

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