Tibet is not this desolate, god-forsaken land that you have imagined it to be, discovers Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Today, the 'first Americans' live in reserves where they are reduced to perform for American tourists. Next year more than two million Chinese 'tourists' are expected to visit the Roof of the World. Is it any different?
After rains hampered rescue operations, the Indo Tibetan Border Police Monday said it may take another three days to resume the evacuation process of stranded victims in flood ravaged hill state of Uttarakhand.
Continuing its crackdown against people allegedly involved in inciting self immolation protests in Tibet, Chinese police today arrested five Tibetans, including a 21-year-old Buddhist monk, for trying to motivate three people to set themselves on fire.
For India, Tibet is just one of the topics they may or may not raise during the ongoing visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. But for the fraction of Tibetans in exile settled in India, the talk regarding the status of Tibet is of paramount importance.
Greeting the jawans on the occasion, the prime minister said their devotion to duty in the remote icy heights, is enabling the strength of the nation, and securing the future and the dreams of 125 crore Indians,
Communist China has recently developed a great expertise in 'soul reincarnation', feels Claude Arpi
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla may have a video conference with West Bengal's Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Director General of Police Virendra on Friday evening after they conveyed their inability to travel to the national capital, officials said.
The maximum 80 companies, as per an official order, will be drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force followed by 70 from the Sashastra Seema Bal, 55 from the Border Security Force, 50 from the Central Industrial Security Force, 30 from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force and 15 from the RPF.
Boston Celtics' Kanter sparks backlash in China after comments on Tibet, Xi.
The officials said the jawan was the youngest to die among the CAPFs. All other fatalities were over 45 years, they said.
Situated at a height of 15,200 feet above sea level, the pass sits on the top of a craggily formed Himalayan range that separates the Tibetan plateau from the Indian sub-continent.
'The impression I get is bread and butter matters more than freedom and choice. And China is providing bread and butter in plenty.' Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com takes the road less travelled -- to Tibet.
The mighty Brahmaputra, one of the longest rivers in the world passes through China, India and Bangladesh and has several tributaries and sub-tributaries.
Members of Indian Armed Forces on Thursday morning celebrated the fourth International Yoga Day in some the most difficult terrains. Spectacular pictures showed the Armed Forces practising yoga asanas in desert, river and on naval ships.
'India has to prepare for future warfare where kinetic use of force at the border will be limited. War will take place in the realms beyond the border.'
China has reportedly executed four Tibetan protesters, including one woman, in connection with last year's deadly riots in Lhasa. The first ever-reported judicial killings of Tibetans in China have prompted overseas protests that proper legal procedures were not followed. Although the Chinese media is yet to confirm the executions, Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy has claimed that the executions took place early on Tuesday morning.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the Line of Actual Control with China, has posted its first officer to head the newly-created Guwahati-based eastern command that oversees deployment of border battalions in that region.
Terming it as an important meeting, the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy, Lodi Gyari, said the Tibetan leader would speak about Tibet, and as two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, he and the President are likely to discuss global concerns.
Protests broke out in at least two Tibetan-populated Chinese towns of Gansu province this week as middle-school students took to the streets to mark the anniversary of the large-scale protests that were held two years ago. The protests took place despite tight security in Tibetan-populated areas ahead of the March 14 anniversary, the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reported on Friday.
The move was aimed at 'reaffirming China's claim over the state'. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'.
The situation in Tibet has turned grim with four more Tibetans, including a nun committed self-immolation in the last two days, taking the toll in the restive Himalayan region to 23 this month, increasing pressure on China's new leadership to resolve the vexed Tibet issue.
Tibetans agitating for the return of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama continued to put pressure on China's new leadership with two more protesters burning themselves to death on Tuesday, taking the number of self-immolation attempts to over 80 in recent months.
The Steve Smith led Australian cricket team, on Friday, sought the blessings of Tibetan spiritual guru, the Dalai Lama, at his McLeod Ganj monastery in Dharamsala.
'Tibet remains a prickly issue between the giant Asian nations. China still claims more than 80,000 sq kilometres of Indian territory in the Northeast. Why? Just because Beijing refuses to acknowledge the McMahon line which separates India and Tibet, and this, simply because the 1914 Agreement delineating the border was signed by the then government of independent Tibet with India's then foreign secretary (Sir Henry McMahon),' says Claude Arpi.
Traffic snarls were on Thursday reported from different parts of central and south Delhi after some roads were closed for the movement of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is in India on a three-day trip.
With China expressing strong opposition to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Tibetan organisations on Wednesday said India should not bow down to Chinese pressure and cancel the trip.
The Standing Committee on Water Resources has recommended renegotiating the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan to address the impact of climate change on water availability in the river basin and other challenges which are not covered under the agreement.
"There have been no intrusions or major face-offs in the area of responsibility of Eastern Command since the friction erupted in Ladakh," he said.
Three more bodies were recovered Monday from the Tapovan tunnel, taking the toll in the Uttarakhand flash flood to 54 as hopes of finding survivors there over a week after the disaster dimmed.
"The Indian government hopes to closely watch, observe, and infiltrate the Tibetan area after the opening of a Lhasa consulate," Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies told state-run Global Times.
The Tibetan and the Buddhist community are outraged at a California-based company for promoting a range of shoes with the Lord Buddha's images.
'The deepening of China-Nepal relations need not cause heartburn in India,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
young Tibetan died on Saturday after setting himself on fire in north-west China, in the seventh such case in the last four days, during which anti-government protests have been stepped up in Tibet amid the once-in-a-decade leadership change at the Communist Party of China's Congress. The man set himself ablaze in front of a monastery in the city of Hezuo in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Gannan in southern Gansu province, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Security personnel at work inside the tunnel rushed out and heavy machines engaged in drilling through the debris and sludge inside were withdrawn.
While rescue efforts are on in full swing, the narrow tunnel and the massive slush that was brought down by the glacial flood are hampering rescue operations, confirm Swati Bhadauria, the district collector of Chamoli, and Yashwant Singh Chauhan, the superintendent of police.
'Its aim is to force the Bhutanese government to cede territory that China wants elsewhere in Bhutan to give Beijing a military advantage in its struggle with New Delhi.'
The Dalai Lama will be in the north eastern state from April 4 to 13 and Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju.
The SP of Chamoli district, which faced the brunt of the glacier break in Uttarakhand, provides insights about the rescue operations.
