No Middle Way

The Tibetan Youth Congress deserves credit for drawing the attention of theinternational community to the actual state of affairs in Tibet and to thecontinued violation of the human right of the Tibetan people by the Chinese. Itis behind the current wave of demonstrations and protests by Tibetans all overthe world, including in Tibet and Sichuan. It has made the Tibetan people inTibet and Sichuan rid themselves of their fear complex and assert their rightsin their homeland. 'Tibet for the Tibetans" is its policy. 

Even though very loyal and devoted to the Dalai Lama, it respectfully differsfrom his policy of the "Middle Way". For it, there is no middle waybetween total independence and total servitude. It differs from His Holiness'policy of genuine autonomy and calls for total independence. It is not againstthe Beijing Olympics. It does not want to sabotage the Games. It says that theOlympics provides the Tibetans with a wonderful opportunity to draw attention totheir unhappiness and aspirations. It feels that the Olympics provides a windowof opportunity to the Tibetans to give strength to their struggle forindependence.

Among the legendary past leaders of the Tibetan Youth Congress is Mr LhasangTsering, a well-known scholar, who has written and spoken extensively onTibet--the present, the past and the future. He is in his late 40s. Tounderstand the current developments relating to Tibet, it is important to knowthe views of the Tibetan Youth Congress and those associated with it--either nowor in the past. To serve this purpose, I am reproducing below an article writtenby him in March 2000. The article is addressed not to Indian policy-makers, butto the policy-makers of the set-up of His Holiness. 

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies.