India warns Tibetan activists in lead-up to Hu Jintao visit

To avoid disturbances during the visit of the Chinese president next week, New Delhi has ordered Tibetan activists on its territory not to leave Dharamsala. The government-in-exile has protested: the move is undemocratic and against freedom of expression.

Dharamsala (AsiaNews) – Beijing and Delhi are making deals at the expense of the Tibetans. After an agreement reached between the two governments on borders contested since the 1962 war – which sees the "cession" of Sikkim to India in exchange for its silence about human rights abuses in Tibet – the matter of the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile on Indian territory is emerging again.

In the lead-up to the visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao – due to be in India from 20 to 23 November – New Delhi "warned" Tibetans not to leave Dharamsala, the city that hosts the community in exile in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

The Tibetan activist, Tenzin Tsundue, said he was served a letter from the local Foreigners Registration Office on 13 November with "explicit directives" that banned him from leaving Dharamsala town until 25 November. The missive, which threatened court prosecution, did not say why the directive had been issued. The activist is sure the aim is to avoid his participation in possible "disturbances" during the visit of Hu. Tsunde was born and bred in India and holds the post of secretary-general of Friends of Tibet India. In the past, he took part in protests when Chinese delegations visited.

The activist wonders why a great democracy like India has resorted to such methods of censorship against him, when he has always "taken the path of peaceful protest against Chinese oppression". The Tibetan government-in-exile has described the directive sent to Tsunde as "undemocratic". Its spokesman, Thupten Samphel, said: "Restraining someone on the mere assumption that something might go wrong during the visit of Hu Jintao could not be a correct and rational measure." He said that beyond showing "friendliness and hospitality towards China", the Indian authorities should also honour "freedom of expression."

• INDIA
• CHINA
• TIBET
• human
• rights
• minorities
• freedom
• of
• expression
• government-in-exile
• dalai
• lama