Yashwant Sinha, Indian Member of Parliament and former
foreign minister addressing the press at the conclusion of his three-day visit
to Dharamshala on September 17, 2012. (Phayul
photo)
DHARAMSHALA, September 17: A senior Indian leader, who
also served as the country’s foreign minister, today expressed hope that India
will make a “course correction” on its Tibet policy and stand more firmly with
the Tibetan cause.
Yashwant Sinha, Member of Parliament and senior BJP
leader was addressing a press conference in Dharamshala at the completion of his
three-day visit to the exile Tibetan headquarters.
“I hope in future
there will be course correction and India will stand more firmly in support of
the Tibetan cause and tell China in very clear terms that the genocide, the
ethnic cleansing, the complete destruction of the Tibetan civilization is not
acceptable to India,” Sinha said.
Taking a dig at India’s China policy
vis-à-vis Tibet, the former Indian foreign and finance minister noted that India
has always committed itself “rightly or wrongly” to a One-China
policy.
“Tibet has been a part of India’s China policy – first you decide
how do you want to deal with China and then deal with Tibet. It should have been
perhaps the reverse – first decide how to deal with Tibet and then deal with
China.”
Sinha, who is the Chairman of All Party Indian Parliamentarian
Forum for Tibet noted that the main purpose of his “long overdue” visit was to
join himself with the aspirations of the Tibetan people and to demonstrate the
full support of several Indian MPs for the Tibetan cause.
He said that
since China committed aggression against India in 1962, the two countries have
dealt with each other “almost like two nations with very serious differences, if
not like two nations at war.”
Sinha revealed that in 2003 when the then
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited China, India signed an agreement in
which there was “some give and take.”
“We reiterated the One-China policy
and in return they recognised Sikkim as part of Indian and opened Nathula as a
trading post,” Sinha, who was then the Foreign Minister said.
Speaking
about the ongoing critical situation in Tibet, heralded by the wave of
self-immolations, Sinha censured China of “crossing all limits” of oppression in
Tibet.
Senior Indian leader Yashwant Sinha (r) and Khenpo Sonam
Tenphel (l) Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, addressing the
press in Dharamshala on September 17, 2012. (Phayu
photo)
“Killing someone is perhaps easier than burning
oneself,” Sinha noted. “The wave of self-immolations in Tibet goes to show that
all limits of oppression have been crossed in Tibet.”
He assured the
Tibetans of his commitment to garner international support for Tibet, to
pressure China to end its oppression in Tibet and promised to raise the issue of
Tibet in the next Indian parliamentary session.
During his three-day
stay, Sinha visited the Tibetan parliament to witness its ongoing session, met
with Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay and his cabinet colleagues, interacted with
Tibetan MPs, senior leaders in the exile administration and representatives of
Tibetan NGOs.
He also spoke separately to the entire staff of the Central
Tibetan Administration and reiterated the Indian parliamentarians’ and people’s
“feeling of brotherhood” for the Tibetan people.
“It is the
responsibility of friends like me of the Tibetan cause to co-operate with you,
to join, and to share the struggle that you have waged,” Sinha said. “I have
come here on behalf of my Party and All-Party Indian Parliamentarian Forum on
Tibet, to tell you that the government of India’s policy may be different,
dictated by geopolitical considerations, but the parliamentarians and people of
India are being guided by only one feeling, the feeling of brotherhood for the
people of Tibet.”
“The manner in which the Tibetan people in and outside
Tibet have continued their struggle for so many decades is a tribute to that
indomitable spirit of courage, faith and determination, which cannot be put out
by any power on earth. There is no power on earth to put out that flame which is
burning in all your hearts,” he said.
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