Tibetans stateless in exile in India aspire to identity and homeland

What does it mean to live in exile?

“When we were at school, our teachers said that there was an” R “on our front – which means refugees,” said Tenzin Tsundu of the Tibetan writer.

Mr. Tsungue is one of around 70,000 Tibetans living in India, spread over 35 designated colonies.

In 1959, thousands of Tibetans fled after a failed uprising against Chinese domination.

Following their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, they crossed the treacherous Himalayan passes and reached India, where they were accepted as refugees for humanitarian grounds and due to shared religious and cultural ties.

But living, or even born, in India, it does not make them Indians, explains Mr. Tsungue.

Tibetans in India live on renewable recording certificates issued every five years. People born here can request passports if a parent was born in India between 1950 and 1987 – but had to give up the certificate to do so. Many hesitate because it is closely linked to their Tibetan identity.

In July, when the Dalai Lama was 90 years old, thousands of Tibetan Buddhists gathered in Dharamshala – a quiet city nestled in the foothills of Himalayas in the state of northern India in Himachal Pradesh. The city is the headquarters of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) – the Tibetan government in exile.

Even if they prayed for the long life of their leader, many as Mr. Tsungue 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 on to birthday celebrations.

The Tibetans continued to migrate to India for decades after 1959, fleeing the grip of tightening China on their homeland.

Dawa Sangbo, 85, reached Dharamshala in 1970 after an exhausting trek of seven days in Nepal. “We ran at night and we hid per day,” he recalls.

Without a place of 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 his wife in a district widely inhabited by the Tibetans.

For many like Mr. Sangbo, fleeing to India may have ensured security – but they always aspire to their homeland.

“A house is a house, after all,” said Pasang Gyalpo, who fled Tibet in Nepal before settling in India in 1990.

Five years later, Mr. Gyalpo welded Nepalese guards and slipped into Tibet to bring his family to India. But Chinese police continued him shortly after arriving, forcing him to flee. His family stays in Tibet.

“They are in their homeland, I am in a foreign country. What can I feel other than pain?” he asks.

For young Tibetans like Mr. Tsunde, born in India, pain is more existential.

“The trauma for us is not that we have lost our land,” he said. “It is that we were not born in Tibet and that we do not have the right to live in Tibet. It is also this great feeling of deprivation as something so essential of our land, our culture and our language was removed.”

Lobsang Yangtso, a researcher in the Tibet and Himalayan regions, explains that being stateless means lacking a sense of belonging.

“It’s painful,” she said. “I have lived all my life here (in India) but I always feel homeless.”

Tibetans in exile are grateful to India for the refuge but deplore their lack of rights – they cannot vote, have goods or easily travel abroad without an Indian passport.

“We have the IC (an official travel document) which is given by the Indian government as a certificate of identity,” said Phurbu Dolma. But airport immigration staff often do not recognize it.

Dorjee Phuntsok, a Tibetan born in India, stressed that many corporate jobs in India often need Indian passports. “Without one, we lack many opportunities.”

In recent years, thousands of Tibetans in India have emigrated to Western countries using the CI, which some countries accept for visa requests.

Many have left for student or work visas, reinstalled in countries like the United States and Canada, or left abroad on sponsorship of religious and humanitarian groups.

Penpa Tsering, the president of the CTA, believes that reason is mainly economic. “Dollars and euros go further than available here,” he says.

But for some like Thupten Wangchuk, 36, who crossed India at the age of eight, motivation is more personal.

“For (almost) 30 long years, I did not meet my parents and my loved ones. I’m not here,” he said. “The only reason I want to go to a Western country is that I can become a citizen there. Then I can ask for a visa and go to Tibet to visit my parents.”

Some Tibetans recognize the need to be pragmatic given the geopolitical pull -ups and pressures.

“If you ask for a Tibetan, they will say they want to go back,” said Kunchok Migmar, a CTA official. “But right now, there is no freedom in Tibet. No one wants to return just to be beaten by the Chinese.”

The last flash point emerged a few days before the 90th anniversary of the Dalai Lama. He said that his successor would be chosen by a trust under his office – a move rejected by China, insisting that he would decide under his law. Beijing described the question of succession a “spine” in its links with India.

The official position of India is that it “takes no position concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion”. In particular, two high ministers of the Indian government shared the scene with Dalai Lama for his birthday.

The announcement of the Dalai Lama that he would have a successor brought relief among the Tibetans. But there is an uncertainty about what his death could mean for the Tibetan movement.

“If we prepare well from now on, when his holiness is alive and (if) the future leaders who will follow us will be able to continue the same time, I think that should not affect us as much as people think,” says Tsering.

His optimism is not shared by all Tibetans.

“It is thanks to the current Dalai Lama that we have these opportunities and resources,” explains Mr. Phuntsok. He adds that many Tibetans fear that after his death, the community could lose the long -standing support that supported them.

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