Should HH The Dalai Lama be elected India's next President?

[Karan M]

The more you protest, with more colorful analogies, the more your discomfort becomes apparent! HH Dalai Lama for Prez!!

[TonyMontana]

The more you protest, with more colorful analogies, the more your discomfort becomes apparent! HH Dalai Lama for Prez!!

I voted yes by the way. I would love to see it happen.

[Gus]

You would have ignored the topic if you did not care.

[RajeshA]

The Dalai Lama as the president of India? You guys want a Tibetan as the President of India? What?

Why do you guys want to turn the president of such a dignified nation into a political stunt, who's only purpose is to piss off a bunch of old men in Beijing? The common chinese on the street will just laugh.

India can do better with the Dalai Lama then to turn your own presidency into a joke.

1. Such a Presidency would signify the unity of the Tibetan and Indian people, of Tibet and India.

2. Generally Indians have a high opinion of HH Dalai Lama. Not just Indians, but many people the world over. This opinion is of course not shared by the Chinese. We also do not look down upon the Tibetans, as was apparent by your remark.

3. This union would have some ramifications for our boundary question, which I consider to be favorable.

4. With HH Dalai Lama's Presidency, we would be declaring to the world, especially Asia, that we are ready to reclaim our Buddhist heritage and lead Buddhist Asia, from Japan to Sri Lanka. It is symbolic.

[Venkarl]

Voted no.........I hope Pranab da is watching this thread

[TonyMontana]

1. Such a Presidency would signify the unity of the Tibetan and Indian people, of Tibet and India.

Have you asked the Tibetans whether they want to unit with the Indian people? Or have you just assumed?

2. Generally Indians have a high opinion of HH Dalai Lama. Not just Indians, but many people the world over. This opinion is of course not shared by the Chinese. We also do not look down upon the Tibetans, as was apparent by your remark.

I wasn't looking down at Tibetans. I was just pointing out that the Indian people will have a non-indian as the President. But of cause you will say that Tibetans and Indian ARE one people.

3. This union would have some ramifications for our boundary question, which I consider to be favorable.

Okay. You just counter claimed. Good for you. But it still means India is using the office of her president to "one-up" the Chinese.

4. With HH Dalai Lama's Presidency, we would be declaring to the world, especially Asia, that we are ready to reclaim our Buddhist heritage and lead Buddhist Asia, from Japan to Sri Lanka. It is symbolic.

Like how the Iranian mass graves for US soldiers is symbolic?

[paramu]

I wasn't looking down at Tibetans. I was just pointing out that the Indian people will have a non-indian as the President. But of cause you will say that Tibetans and Indian ARE one people.

Indians consider other people same as Indians based on value system they share... unlike the race theory many others use.

[RajeshA]

Have you asked the Tibetans whether they want to unit with the Indian people? Or have you just assumed?

If you had made an effort to read the thread, you would know that the process begins with Tibetan Parliament in Exile.

But it still means India is using the office of her president to "one-up" the Chinese.

Actually this is supposed to be strictly an Indo-Tibetan Affair. China is secondary to such an effort.

4. With HH Dalai Lama's Presidency, we would be declaring to the world, especially Asia, that we are ready to reclaim our Buddhist heritage and lead Buddhist Asia, from Japan to Sri Lanka. It is symbolic.

Like how the Iranian mass graves for US soldiers is symbolic?

I Don't have sufficient imagination to find any connection between the two.

[JVKrishnan]

If the objective is to use the Tibetan cause to humiliate CHina, then it is a short term strategy at best.
A better way would be recognize Tibet as independant.

True, if the objective is humiliation then it is useless, but it can be just as much be a serious policy change, where India goes on the offensive. Instead of having China recognizing and de-recognizing parts of India - Arunachal Pradesh especially Tawang, Aksai Chin, Ladakh, Sikkim, etc., India retorts back that whole of Tibet belongs to India, and it is China that is sitting on Indian Land.

If India accepts that Tibet is part of China, which it at the moment does, then India's right to the above mentioned areas would always be contested by China. Even if India recognizes Tibet as an independent country, it does not change anything, because PRC sits on it, and India has no locus standi on it to speak with the Chinese about Tibetan independence. In fact the Chinese would say, that India sits on Tibetan land (Tawang) and India should first give it free.

So basically India's territorial integrity, even the current one, itself to some extent depends on India's claim to Tibet.

Either India lays claims to Tibet or we would start losing our Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sooner or later, because China is contesting them on the basis of their claim on Tibet.

Brilliantly put! Unfortunately or fortunately, we are gravitating towards a showdown with China! HHDL was not supported coz he wanted India to fight for their independence! That's like asking your neighbour to clean up your house for free. JLN & others saw through this and never bothered. To this day, HHDL hopes that India fights for free so he can reign over. He knew all along that Tibet was always a part of Bharata. Moreover, religious leaders are unfit to rule a nation!

[shiv]

The tenure of an Indian president is five years.

So we make Dalai Lama President. He is 75 now and he stays on as President of India till 80. Then what?
Why not make a Pakistani the President of India and get him to hoist a flag on Red Fort on 26th Jan?

[Bade]

^^^ Only if the whole of Pakistan joins India, as three Indian states. We can ensure a Pakistan quota for that position for some number of years too to facilitate assimilation.

[shiv]

That will leave only Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar to solve, But maybe making Arundhati Roy President would help solve te Naxal problem do you think. One possible idea is to reduce the tenure of each President to 3 years - so everything gets done faster.

[Bade]

Anyway we are an all inclusive secular nation, so I do not see any problems with that either.

The only issue is we are not willing to force our concepts of secularism like a world power on our neighboring native barbarians. Forget about installing a saffron empire in our sphere, before we get a secular empire established within the Akhand Indic boundaries.

[VikramS]

I wasn't looking down at Tibetans. I was just pointing out that the Indian people will have a non-indian as the President. But of cause you will say that Tibetans and Indian ARE one people.

Tony:
Some BR style re-education for you.

Tibetan Alphabet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_script
Devanagari Alphabet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari
See something common? The consonants, the vowels and how they arranged. See a pattern?

I do not know what you mean by one people, but Tibet has ALWAYS been and continues to remain under the Indic cultural sphere. It is just a matter of time before that identity reasserts itself....

[TonyMontana]

I do not know what you mean by one people, but Tibet has ALWAYS been and continues to remain under the Indic cultural sphere. It is just a matter of time before that identity reasserts itself....

Do you know how Chinese you sound? It boggles the mind that you are so indignant about China projecting her power, and here you are, fantasising about a Indic empire.

I guess it's like that Simpson's episode, cows will eat you if given the chance...

[Yayavar]

I do not know what you mean by one people, but Tibet has ALWAYS been and continues to remain under the Indic cultural sphere. It is just a matter of time before that identity reasserts itself....

Do you know how Chinese you sound? It boggles the mind that you are so indignant about China projecting her power, and here you are, fantasising about a Indic empire.

I guess it's like that Simpson's episode, cows will eat you if given the chance...

China is also under Indic cultural sphere (read Budhist thought). Cultural bonds do not imply over-lordship which is what China has forced onto Tibet.

[Bade]

Tony, please read the Ramayana if you have not read it already to see how Indians from the past projected cultural power. You will find all the answers you are seeking about Indian indignation at China's moves, as well as how India sees itself and its role in projecting what we consider as the ideals of life. Our goal is actually Rama-rajya as even a modern day politician like Gandhi cherished for.

There are many more experts here in BR who can be more eloquent on the deeper meanings hidden in the Ramayana than me.

If I may say so crudely, Rama==India and Ravana==PRC to keep in mind when you get to read it.

[AdityaM]

Why cant HH Dalai lama go on a India wide Rath yatra?
nothing like a rath yatra to get the media attention!

As for president, i want a SC-ST muslim Jat who can speak tamil to be the President. Oh what glorious nation we will become then!

[pgbhat]

Voted yes, just for sh!ts and giggles.

[Sanku]

I had voted no, to begin with, but considering the reactions, am tempted to change to Yes just for fun.

RajeshA-ji -- I see your idea, and it has a lot of merit, but I must agree with Shiv when he talks about 75-80 year old Dalai Lama being a fairly token gesture.

We need more substance on both the message and troops on ground -- that is what I would like.

[RajeshG]

I will only vote Yes if Rahulji adopts HH.

[RajeshA]

RajeshA-ji -- I see your idea, and it has a lot of merit, but I must agree with Shiv when he talks about 75-80 year old Dalai Lama being a fairly token gesture.

Sanku ji,
When we talk about adopting a multi-pronged strategy to crack the Chinese nut, then some aspects of the strategy would also be symbolic in nature.

The President of India has of course some real powers but it is also a highly symbolic post. It is a good way to send China a very real message - Tibet does not belong to China.

HHDL is an old man. He would probably never see a free Tibet, but nobody else can better put a fly in China's teacup before he goes. Whether we ever take Tibet or not, HHDL would have strengthened India's claims on our boundary and given India a lever to deal with China before he goes.

May be someday India could negotiate with China to make Tibet a buffer region again between our two nations, but that can be done only if we have something substantial in our hands.

Till then we can make PRC extremely insecure, without even lifting a military finger. Just like PRC keeps on parroting its line on Taiwan without actually attacking it, so too can we keep on parroting our line that PRC occupies Indian Land.

Of course we have to strengthen our position militarily, but that would be yet another prong in that multi-pronged strategy!

[vina]

Well, HH The Dalai Lama is in Ladhak , just a stone's throw away from Tibet (Ladhak is a largely Tibetan Buddhist place), ministering to the victims of the recent cloud burst that cost many lives.

PRC will be HOPPING MAD , but screw the old retards in Beijing. HH Dalai Lama is THE leading Tibetan Buddhist religious and spiritual figure and it is perfectly within his rights nay responsibility to minister to his flock, whether in Ladhak or Arunachal Pradesh or in Qingdao or Yunnan or Shanxi or other places in China which too suffered during the recent floods.

Well, the Taiwanese after the recent earth quake invited him to come and visit Taiwan!. As good Chinese who too claim to be sole ruler of all of China (including Tibet), that invite alone shows the regard with which all Chinese too hold him, despite the filthy language of the Beijing based thugs.

Also, when the Tibetan monks were beaten and brutalized by the PRC thugs recently before the olympics, many Chinese had warned of divine retribution. Well lets just put it this way, when there were quakes in PRC and Taiwan in quick succession right after that, the Chinese at large were rattled.

[Sanku]

Of course we have to strengthen our position militarily, but that would be yet another prong in that multi-pronged strategy!

Well let me put it this way, if this is one of the prongs of many actions (military is a must and I am not even taking that into account) which are visible and strong, then this is a good step.

However even before we get to HH DL as Indian president many small baby steps will have to be taken first, such as
1) Acknowledge Tibet to be Autonomous from China
2) Offer a dual Citizenship to special Autonomous region of Tibet
3) Chose a Tibetian with Dual Citizenship to the Presidents post.

Forget (3), doing (1) will cause all the status quo disruption we want.

You see, I am a SDRE Yindoo, get satisfied by small things onlee...

[ShivaS]

Why not D Lama for president and Sonia for PM.

In one sho(r)t we can claim Tibet and equally picturesque Italy as ours. Oh telugu is called Italian of the east any way!

[naren]

I voted no.

Remember, HHDL is not just a card against PRC. He is the symbol of Buddhist regeneration* in India. Bringing Buddhism into politics is a bad bad idea. Its history repeated all over again. Electing HHDL for president will set a dangerous precedent and creation of new votebanks. SD is already under attack from many directions, dont add Buddhism to it ! The best place for Buddhism is in our hearts and temples and monasteries, not in politics.

* my reading of tea leaves: Buddhism will be regenerated. May not be as popular as it was during its heyday, but definitely its going to be regenerated. Our policy makers needs to understand this and positively transform this to our geopolitical/strategic/economic advantage.

[Philip]

The kingdom of Bhutan is an Indian protectorate.At the very least there's nothing to stop the Tibetan's in exile from making Tibet an Indian "protectorate".The idea of making HH the DL Indian Pres. is not just to get even with China but if we are to look for a respected figure as head of state,what do we have? Pres.Pratibha's family are involved in land-grabbing cases/disputes and many candidates proposed in the past are just too political.ABV would be a great choice, but his age and health are against it.However,for academic debate,what if...the Tibetan govt. in exile request a union with India,or request for similar status as Bhutan,would we refuse them? There are enough examples in world history for Tibet to become part of thye Indian union and HH the DL becoming India's head of state.AS for the argument that as a "spiritual leader",he being the head of the armed forces looks peculiar.HH the DL is also head of state of Tibet,which did possess armed forces who fought valiantly against the Chinese invasion!

What is unacceptable right now is the creeping invasion of China from Tibet all along our northern borders and sudden questioning of India's soveregnity over parts of its historic territory.India can very well do the same to China and question the right of the PRC to rule over China as the legitimate democratic govt. of China is located for the moment in Taiwan! the famous quote that "possession is 9/10ths of the law" is the only reason that China can bring into play for its claims.If it starts claiming territory that is not under its control then it is open season for India to question China's right over Tibet,Taiwan and the very legality of the Communist PRC which rules by the jackboot and hegemony and not democracy.

[RajeshA]

I voted no.

Remember, HHDL is not just a card against PRC.

The contention here is not about using HHDL as a card against PRC. Such a premise presupposes that we do not have the interests of Tibet at heart, which is not the truth. The proposal is to make his role much more important than that.

In the end, it is a vision thing!

The standard vision says that

• India needs to consolidate its territorial integrity
• India needs to grow economically at a fast pace
• India should be invited to the high table - the veto-carrying UNSC Permanent Seat
• India should have a strong Indian military with a defensive posture
• India needs communal harmony at home
• India should have peaceful relations with its neighbors, indeed with all countries of the world. Peaceful intent with a strong military suffices.

IMVVHO, the above vision would fail. The proposition is to have additional components to this vision, based on observations of our strategic environment.

We are following a fortress mentality - the Himalayan effect perhaps. Whenever we are threatened, we think about increasing our military preparedness, and pleading for peace at the same time - making the walls of the fort sturdier and telling the enemy to go home after taking a few bags of rice as a sign of goodwill.

The thing is the enemy takes the bags of rice but refuses to go home, or at the most puts off the lights of the siege camp for a night. The enemy would keep on pushing. The army camp will grow on stronger with the years and decades. He is continuously placing the cannons in far better positions, and his firepower is growing at a quicker pace than the walls of our fortress, and every now and then fires a few volleys chipping at our fortress, making us edgy. Someday our will would run out. A siege mentality is not good.

We need to push them into their own fortress! If Tibet becomes 'legally' a part of India, the Chinese would become fearful that by hook or by crook, we will take Tibet, even if takes a hundred years, regardless of whether our policy is peaceful at the moment.

Now this is a mentality Indians are not usually comfortable with, and does not come very natural to us, but our defense lies in offense in case of China. Offense need not be war though.

The reason the Chinese are feeling over-confident is simply because they think, they have consolidated their areas, and can go on to capture new ones. Well we need to let them know, that is not the case.

For the last 62 years, India has had to live in a world, which was always casting aspersions on whether J&K really belongs to India. We have lived under a siege mentality, always sensitive to any comment on the issue. And there were many comments on the issue, so we are still under siege. It has wounded our confidence and we have become needlessly timid in our foreign policy vision. This is what happens when one is not sure of one's territorial integrity and legitimacy over one's lands.

Just imagine some day some guy starts coming around to your house every now and then, and telling you that the land, on which your house stands, belonged to his grandfather and he would take it, without showing any aggressiveness overtly. That would make you nervous and lose sleep.

Well that is exactly what we should give to China, to chew on - a lot of nervousness and caution.

Only if Tibet is considered part of India, can India really raise our voice over human rights for Tibetan people. As long as it is not, India considers it interference in the affairs of another country.

Who knows, the Chinese may even start treating the Tibetans with some respect, or even appeasing them, so that they do not feel 'Indian'. India too does a lot of appeasing and bribing of our Kashmiri Muslims, so that they feel Indian and not Pakistani.

[Venkarl]

jingoistic thoughts apart....what we can do in our capacity to make dragon cough some smoke is to invite HH DL as an honorary guest to our upcoming Republic Republic Day. This is achievable AFAIK.

[AdityaM]

All brethren here forget the wise words from the ever wise Pranab Mukherjee from just 2 years ago.
HHDL is a guest and he should not engage in politics.

Now can we appoint a different GOI before we appoint him as our President?

[RajeshA]

what we can do in our capacity to make dragon cough some smoke is to invite HH DL as an honorary guest to our upcoming Republic Republic Day. This is achievable AFAIK.

What will this achieve in real terms?

jingoistic thoughts apart....

What is the meaning of Jingo?
- Somebody who thinks that a Colgate smile is not enough to keep back Chinese aggression.

[RajeshA]

X-Posted from Managing Chinese Threat Thread

India does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.
Corollary:
One needs to make Tibet an internal affair of India onlee.

provided others do not interfere in our affairs. this is a reciprocal one.

we have to raise stakes both diplomatically and militarily.
Militarily should be the last resort.
from my earlier post

Advantages- this is high pitched diplomacy- eye for an eye, it may well be better than doing nothing or reacting to Chinese moves that J&K is our territory Arunachal Pradesh is ours etc. which is self defeating attitude. when you die better die fighting(not that it is going to happen but just the attitude to adopt)

China is very paranoid about its areas. They will go crazy about it and make a big issue. It has the same effect as we are doing about Indian territories-

Just for a moment think about reversing the roles of India and china- India questioning Tibet Taiwan xinjaing and china defending.
This gives the answer.
India should fortify defences. No lapses on this front. India must explicitly say that any attack on Indian region(not geographical area) would invite more than appropriate response( enuf doubts about new clear ones should be kept for plausible deniability)

we have to play the diplomatic game if we have to survive as one nation keeping the ammo dry all the time.

It is very impractical.
lot of changes have to be made to do this which will only score brownie points.
why would of any one make HHDL president of India.
He is a honored guest of India. He is the spiritual guide to tibetans worldwide. Let him be.
there is a tibetan govt in exile.
Better for India would to issue visas to tibet separate from chinese ones and go on from there.
We would like to have friendly relations with tibet as we have had in the past.
Support and make Tibet a buffer state free and independent. It will take years so be it.
Suppose by making HHDL president for 5 years- what is going to happen---only loss of face for Tibetans in a way.
panda will be in tibet in the next 5 years. the bearings will be lost if HHDL becomes president.
On top of it who will support him-- agreed he is a good man and all Indians love him without any doubt.
The question is who will support him- all like him but he requires support which I doubt will materialises.
If he fails it is a shame for everyone(Tibetans and Indians alike).

For heavens sake dont ever think of it.
thanx.

krisna ji,
My comment was in response to your comment in 'HHDL for Prezi' Thread.

If the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and HH Dalai Lama sign an Instrument of Accession to India, with Center having powers over Foreign Policy and Defense, and India makes HH DL President of India consuming that agreement, then there will be real punch behind questioning Tibet's occupation by China, as well as of other nations prisoners within PRC.

Otherwise we would be looked upon as casual needlers who started taking pot shots at China because we were bored. When other countries question the status of J&K, then it is real punch on the nose, because the state is under the control of 3 different parties, and the part that is in our control is actually out of control. The dispute on J&K between Pakistan and India is real. Pakistan occupies large swaths of J&K and demands the rest.

If we start making any insinuations on the status of Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Taiwan or any other regions, then what? Nothing happens. The Chinese can afford to ignore us, and they can afford to pin-prick us even more often.

provided others do not interfere in our affairs. this is a reciprocal one

As such this provision would not work. Our weak points are real and in dispute, where as their weak points are unapproachable and hence ignorable.

[SwamyG]

What is the meaning of Jingo?
- Somebody who thinks that a Colgate smile is not enough to keep back Chinese aggression.

But that is all you are going to get from HH.

[Klaus]

The president's post is not a "holier than thou" position that it has to be sanctified time and again. As Philip saar says, if Prathiba Patil (with all her land grabbing cabal activities) can occupy it, HHDL is more than legit for the post. It goes without saying that the ground has to be prepared for such a step (as many posters have said before).

Desh should use any and all tools which is available to it. OTOH one can see a lot of "log kya kahenge"/"cheena kya kahega" syndrome here.

RajeshA, your concept of siege mentality is spot-on. Hope the Indian strat community has abandoned this mentality after Chinese presence in Nepal and G-B has been confirmed (that the north-east and eastern Himalayas can no longer insulate India).

Kudos to you for starting this thread!

[SwamyG]

^^^^
It is all about placing bets on the wrong horse or a lame duck individual.

[RamaY]

jingoistic thoughts apart....what we can do in our capacity to make dragon cough some smoke is to invite HH DL as an honorary guest to our upcoming Republic Republic Day. This is achievable AFAIK.

This is my preference too (read my post in previous page).

RajeshA ji, this will do multiple things -

1. It shows that India recognizes Tibet as a separate (will enrage PRC) and independent soverign state (Beijing will have a b*chfit).
2. It shows that HH DL as the leader of that soverign Tibet
3. It shows that India, united with all its might, stands by HH DL and Tibet

Shiv-ji is right on this point (I still disagree with him on POK - which was claimed by Parliament of India as undeniable part of India). We never claimed Tibet as part of our nation. It is a different thing if/when Tibet and its people decide to join Indian Union.

[RajeshA]

If the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and HH Dalai Lama sign an Instrument of Accession to India, with Center having powers over Foreign Policy and Defense, and India makes HH DL President of India consuming that agreement, then there will be real punch behind questioning Tibet's occupation by China, as well as of other nations prisoners within PRC.

Tibet signs instrument of accession then what to do — it is a mockery when India cannot even enter Tibet to take control It is a self defeating one and we will be laughed as jokers. This is a self goal.

Why would we be laughed at? Have we lost anything? We would be laughed at if some Chinese soldiers ask us to move our check posts back in Sikkim, because we are encroaching in their territory, and we do it to keep peace.

One way of looking at it is from the perspective of the bond market.

At the moment China holds around 843.7 billion USD of US Treasury Bonds, 2.3 trillion yen of Japanese Bonds - All rivals of PRC. When the bonds mature they will get their money. Getting their money back depends on the success of the American and Japanese economies.
India is also buying bonds here - albeit junk bonds. Now junk bonds are risky but they are high yielding too. These bonds will mature when China collapses. Till then we can keep these bonds.

Another way of looking at it is as a lease. India has purchased the lease for Tibet from the Tibetan Government in Exile. When India deems that the lease period has expired, India would move in. The time period is unknown. It just means that India is not under any obligation to retake the land, as long as the lease is valid. Only we decide when it expires.

Still another way of looking at it is as buying land which has been forcefully occupied by some thug. It would make sense that we should then get rid of the squatter, however how and when is our decision.

The thing is these bonds, this purchase of lease, this inheritance of land, etc has come quite cheap - India's Presidency to a noble man, resident of India since more than half a century.

It is completely up to us, how and when we kick the Chinese out of Tibet. There is no pressure other than from our strategic concerns. We don't want the pressure, but we should take the right of kicking them out.

Fine some may laugh at it. Even the Chinese would laugh a bit at it initially. But if after a couple of months, if India changes its troops position a bit on the border, all of a sudden they will stop laughing and become wary. A couple of months after that if India expresses some indignation at the human rights violations in Tibet, the Chinese would be pricked really deep. We would be announcing to them, that we are a party to everything that takes place within Tibet.

OTOH this can occur only when Tibet is free. Later if the Tibetans want to be within Indian union then it will work.
We have to first free Tibet- then the rest can be done.

Before we free Tibet, we first need the right to do it.

How to free Tibet— go step by step - make it autonomous zone as per agreements. Later go for freedom and later if Tibetans wishes for Indian union. This again is one of the several steps to take for unraveling china which will be diplomatic with military preparedness.
Only when china becomes weak will Tibet can have a realistic chance of freedom. This takes maneuverings for years.
We cannot rush headlong. Patience, dogged persistence with preservation & articulation of our core interests is the key.
This is a high stakes game for our own survival.

I agree, that is the way to go about freeing Tibet. However exercising our rights over Tibet would arm us with a very potent tool to make this exercise a reality.

The problem is that India is a very timid and legalistic land. We are timid because we inherited our current boundaries from Britain.

It is the British who made all the treaties with neighboring lands under diverse circumstances. We argue for the sanctity of our borders from that perspective - based on those treaties made by the British. However we played no role in those treaties. We were colonized. So when Independence dawned we inherited the treaties made by people who did not represent us, and for whom we have no love lost. It becomes difficult to defend oneself using arguments of those, whom you despise. It becomes difficult to defend claims you had no hand in making. So as long as it was about borders drawn by the same Britishers to demarcate internal boundaries to which concerned parties (India, Pakistan) agreed, there was no problem (Radcliff Line). If those boundaries were with weak powers like Nepal and Bhutan, there was also no problem and one arrived at some compromise. But we also now have a neighbor, China, who does not accept those treaties made by the British or wants to interpret them according to its will. So how do we defend our claims on those boundaries? The boundary is considered disputed.

The disputed borders in J&K, Indo-Tibetan border, etc. have sapped away our strength to some extent. We are timid about raising similar issues in other countries, in fear that others would start poking their fingers into our boundary disputes. That has forced India to keep a low head, and take the moral high ground of respecting the sovereignty and not wanting to interfere in the internal affairs of others. So much so, that India refuses to take a stand on Baluchistan or Gilgit-Baltistan even, even though we are legally entitled to that land as well.

The border problem has made us timid and look for cover under legalese and instruments of accession, etc. This has resulted in an extremely timid Indian Foreign Policy, not in the least in sync with India's potential.

That is the core problem I am trying to focus on.

If the Indian boundary 'legally' runs somewhere through Central China, through the induction of Tibet into the Indian Union, at least the Indian leadership, who is coy about needing to defend British treaties, and look for the easy way out, because they cannot express their case in black and white, they would be far more assertive in defending the land that India already has in possession due to treaties they believe in, having concluded them themselves (the hypothetical Indo-Tibetan Unification Treaty).

It is actually a shame for me, that I'm having to prescribe a crutch here for the Indian leadership against their timidity.

So I am not suggesting or expecting Indian troops to be marching on into Lhasa in the next couple of years, but what this would certainly do is:

1. Put the Chinese on the back-foot, having to constantly defend to the world community their right over Tibet, and their treatment of Tibetans, making them defensive w.r.t India.
2. Give India the right to interfere in Chinese affairs especially if they are concerned with Tibet.
3. Improve the plight of Tibetans in China due to the additional world glare on Tibet and their contested status.
4. Giving the legalese-minded and conflict-shy Indian Leadership some much needed backbone to not give in to Chinese pressure tactics on the boundary.
5. Give India rights to Tibet, as and when it becomes free.

[Sanku]

Shouldn't this thread post be merged with Chinese threat thread? Its the pretty same discussion now?

[ramana]

Not quite. Let many flowers bloom as Mao said.

[SwamyG]

Here is DL's website and contact info: http://www.dalailama.com/office/contact

Interested folks can invite him for a private audience, or email his office or schedule media interview and discuss this ___________ offer. After all, we need to know if he will accept this offer, no? Or am I late, did some of you already do this?