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BBC News
12-08-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Stateless Tibetans in exile in India yearn for identity and homeland
What does it mean to live in exile?"When we were in school, our teachers used to say that there is an 'R' on our forehead - meaning refugees," says Tibetan writer-activist Tenzin Tsundue is one of around 70,000 Tibetans living in India, spread across 35 designated 1959, thousands of Tibetans fled after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Following their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, they crossed treacherous Himalayan passes and reached India, where they were accepted as refugees on humanitarian grounds and because of shared religious and cultural living, or even being born, in India doesn't make them Indians, says Mr Tsundue. Tibetans in India live on renewable registration certificates issued every five years. Those born here can apply for passports if a parent was born in India between 1950 and 1987 - but must surrender the certificate to do so. Many hesitate, as it's closely tied to their Tibetan July, as the Dalai Lama turned 90, thousands of Tibetan Buddhists gathered in Dharamshala - a quiet town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The town serves as the headquarters of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) - the Tibetan as they prayed for their leader's long life, many like Mr Tsundue found themselves reflecting on the uncertainty of living in exile. The emotional weight of displacement, the legal limbo of statelessness and geopolitics around the Dalai Lama hung heavy on the birthday turn out to mark Dalai Lama's 90 birthday Tibetans continued migrating to India for decades after 1959, fleeing China's tightening grip on their Sangbo, 85, reached Dharamshala in 1970 after a gruelling seven-day trek through Nepal. "We ran at night and hid by day," he no place to stay in India, he survived by living in a tent for 12 years and selling spices in villages near Dharamshala. He now lives with his son and wife in a neighbourhood largely inhabited by many like Mr Sangbo, fleeing to India may have provided security - but they still yearn for their homeland."A home is a home, after all," says Pasang Gyalpo, who fled Tibet to Nepal before settling in India in years later, Mr Gyalpo bribed Nepalese guards and slipped into Tibet to bring his family to India. But Chinese police chased him soon after arrival, forcing him to flee. His family remains in Tibet."They are in their homeland, I am in a foreign land. What else can I feel but pain?" he younger Tibetans like Mr Tsunde, who are born in India, the pain is more existential."The trauma for us is not that we lost our land," he says. "It's that we were not born in Tibet and don't have the right to live in Tibet. It is also this great sense of deprivation that something so very essential of our land, culture, and language has been taken away from us."Lobsang Yangtso, a researcher on Tibet and Himalayan regions, explains that being stateless means lacking a sense of belonging."It's painful," she says. "I have lived all my life here [in India] but I still feel homeless." Tibetans in exile are grateful to India for refuge but lament their lack of rights - they cannot vote, own property or easily travel abroad without an Indian passport."We have the IC [an official travel document] which is given by the Indian government as an identity certificate," says Phurbu Dolma. But airport immigration staff often don't recognise Phuntsok, a Tibetan born in India, pointed out that many corporate jobs in India often require Indian passports. "Without one, we miss out on many opportunities."Who is the Dalai Lama and why does he live in exile?In recent years, thousands of Tibetans in India have emigrated to Western countries using the IC, which some nations accept for visa have left on student or work visas, resettled in countries like the US and Canada, or gone abroad on sponsorships from religious and humanitarian Tsering, the president of the CTA, believes that the reason is mainly economic. "Dollars and euros go further than what's available here," he for some like Thupten Wangchuk, 36, who crossed over to India as an eight-year-old, the motivation is more personal."For [almost] 30 long years, I haven't met my parents and relatives. I've no one here," he says. "The sole reason I want to go to a Western country is that I can become a citizen there. Then I can apply for a visa and go into Tibet to visit my parents." Some Tibetans acknowledge the need to be pragmatic given the geopolitical pulls and pressures."If you ask any Tibetan, they'll say they want to go back," says Kunchok Migmar, a CTA official. "But right now, there is no freedom in Tibet. No one wants to go back just to be beaten by the Chinese."The latest flashpoint emerged days before the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday. He said his successor would be chosen by a trust under his office - a move China rejected, insisting it would decide under its law. Beijing called the succession issue a "thorn" in its ties with official stance is that it "does not take any position concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion". Notably, two senior ministers of the Indian government shared the stage with Dalai Lama on his Dalai Lama's announcement that he would have a successor brought relief among Tibetans. But there is uncertainty over what his death could mean for the Tibetan movement."If we prepare ourselves well from now, when His Holiness is alive and [if] the future leaders who will follow us can continue the same momentum, then I think it should not affect us as much as people think it could," says Mr optimism is not shared by all Tibetans."It's thanks to the current Dalai Lama that we have these opportunities and resources," says Mr Phuntsok. He adds many Tibetans fear that after his passing, the community may lose the long-standing support that has sustained them. Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook.


Al Jazeera
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Dalai Lama confirms he will have a successor after his death
The Dalai Lama has confirmed that he will have a successor chosen in accordance with 'past tradition', ending years of speculation about the centuries-old office. In a video message on Wednesday, just days before his 90th birthday, the Tibetan spiritual leader said the Gaden Phodrang Foundation, which he established to preserve the institution, will have the power to recognise his future reincarnation. Tibetan Buddhist leaders will search for his successor, he added, stressing that 'no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter'. The 14th Dalai Lama said he had received many messages in recent years from Buddhists calling for the office's continuation. 'In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,' he added. He made the comments during a three-day religious conference in Dharamshala, the northern Indian town where he has been based since 1959, when he fled Tibet for India after a failed uprising against China. Speaking to Al Jazeera, the Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue described the Dalai Lama's announcement on Wednesday as a 'punch in the face' for China, which governs the Tibet Autonomous Region and which has claimed that it has the power to appoint his successor. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama, whom China brands a 'separatist', has previously warned Beijing not 'to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the Dalai Lama'. In response to his comments on Wednesday, China said the Dalai Lama's succession must be approved by the central government in Beijing. Thupten Ngodup, a spiritual adviser to the Dalai Lama, said that ordinarily there would not be talk of a successor during the current leader's lifetime. 'But this discussion is happening now mainly because the Chinese government is interfering with the reincarnation of His Holiness,' he told Al Jazeera. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that the spiritual leader will be reincarnated in the body of a child. Born into a farming family on July 6, 1935, the current Dalai Lama was chosen for the role at the age of two. A search party sent by the Tibetan government picked him after he identified items belonging to his predecessor, according to his website. In the winter of 1940, he moved to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, where he became his people's spiritual leader. His successor can be of any gender and does not have to hold Tibetan nationality, an official at the Dalai Lama's trust said on Wednesday. In 2011, the Dalai Lama handed political authority to a democratically elected Tibetan government-in-exile.


Hindustan Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Tibet groups call on Nepalese film festival to cancel Xizang Panorama
A coalition of 145 global Tibet-related organisations have called on the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) to cancel 'Xizang Panorama' immediately, which they claim is China's 'propaganda'. 'Xizang Panorama' is a program under KIMFF's international category, featuring a selection of six short films, each approximately 15 minutes long. The country of origin listed for all the films is China. The organisations have maintained that KIMFF's 'Xizang Panorama' wrongly refers to Tibet with the name 'Xizang' which they said is a term that the Chinese government is promoting as a tool of imperial erasure and its use undermines the distinct historical and cultural identity of Tibet. Kathmandu is hosting the 22nd edition of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), from May 28 to June 1. The Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in the past also opposed the usage of 'Xizang' instead of Tibet – calling it Chinese propaganda. 'The programme – Xizang Panorama – is not only inaccurately named 'Xizang', but it also features propaganda films that showcase China's false narrative about the situation in Tibet. One such is 'Life of Buda' which promotes China's false narrative of the occupation of Tibet as a 'peaceful liberation' ,the organisations said in a statement. The organisations include India Tibet Friendship Society, Students for a Free Tibet, The Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities, US Tibet Committee, V-TAG United Kingdom, Tibetan Women's Association among others. Meanwhile, Dharamshala based Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue said that it is unfortunate that a select group of Nepalese politicians are allowing the sacred land of Nepal for Chinese propaganda on Tibet. 'This is never the wish of the Nepalese people who are like brothers and sisters to the Tibetans inside Tibet, suffering under Chinese communist dictatorship. In the 7th century, Nepalese princess Bhrikuti Devi was offered as queen to emperor Songtsen Gampo of Tibet, not Xizang. Tibet may be under foreign occupation today, but tomorrow, when we re-established the entire country of 2.5 million km of land as Tibet, with what face will Nepal face the Dalai Lama?' he said.