The tragedy that is Tibet

There is a lot happening in the roof of the world. And other than a few pseudo sympathetic tsk tsk from the “world community” there seems to be very little going around for the Tibetans.

Here are a few facts – Tibet is a poor nation. It’s economy is primarily subsistence farming. The region is mostly dry with little or no mineral reserves and other than being the home of Tibetan Buddhism which is practised in various countries, does not really have much to boast of.

Tibet has been under Chinese rule during various stages in history. The present day Dalai Lama evaded arrest by the Chinese escaping Tibet in 1959 when he was 24 and successfully sought asylum in India.

The present unrest, which was sparked off on Mar 10 to commemorate a similar show of dissent in 1959 seems to have outdone the earlier event.

It is a little ridiculous to hear people initially speculate whether the Chinese will use brute force to quell the uprising. Of course they will. This is the Chinese we are talking about, they ran tanks on their own students in Tienanmen…what chance do the Tibetan monks have?

It is also being said the Dalai Lama has achieved little in the last 50 years and has been quite ineffective. It may be partially true.

However, The Dalai Lama has been fighting against great odds to keep the issue of Tibet alive in a world conscience that doesn’t care and more importantly, does not need to care. With his consistent harping on a peaceful movement and wooing of celebrities and world leaders he continues to be a bug bear on the Chinese Government's side.

It is not an easy role he is playing. All countries in the world accept China’s right to rule Tibet. The Tibetan Govt. in exile is not recognised by any nation in the world.

Let’s face it. Tibet is not oil rich Iraq or White Balkans or Tibetans in exile do not exactly come close to the Jewish lobby in Washington. China's military and economic might far outstrips a conglomerate of disparate Middle East countries held together only by a common hatred of Israel.

The Tibetans are imminently forgettable in the world of global real politik. In this scenario, the fact that people still talk about Tibet is all thanks to the efforts of the Dalai Lama.

What is worrying about the present unrest is people are breaking free of the Dalai Lama’s control. These are the second generation exiles. They are tired of the path of peace and have decided enough is enough. They are talking of complete independence and are willing to resort to violence.

By now we know what happens when these movements take up the gun. We’ll have resistance movements that will be dubbed terrorist organisations. There will be attacks on innocent Chinese civilians which will be blamed on these terrorists (rightly or wrongly).

The moment the peaceful Tibetan movement starts getting painted with the same brush as a Cechnya or Tamil Eelam, the World will have every excuse to totally wash its hands off the Tibet question. The Chinese will have a free reign to do what they want without even the nuisance value of a world opinion.

With the new railway link from Quinghai to Tibet, and mass relocation, China will quickly enough solve the Tibet problem. There are some 5 million Tibetans against 1.3 billion Chinese.

Abandoning the way of the Dalai Lama and sidelining him may well be playing into the hands of the Chinese. This is what they have been waiting for all along to settle the Tibet question once and for all.

Unfortunate as it may seem, but this may well be the beginning of the end of the struggle for Tibetan autonomy/independence.