Tibet is not this desolate, god-forsaken land that you have imagined it to be, discovers Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'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.'
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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at work inside the tunnel rushed out and heavy machines engaged in drilling through the debris and sludge inside were withdrawn.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.
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?
The SP of Chamoli district, which faced the brunt of the glacier break in Uttarakhand, provides insights about the rescue operations.
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.
Communist China has recently developed a great expertise in 'soul reincarnation', feels Claude Arpi
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.
'The deepening of China-Nepal relations need not cause heartburn in India,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'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 move was aimed at 'reaffirming China's claim over the state'. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'.
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.
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.
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.
'I consider myself a pilgrim who is here to shape tomorrow.'
Gen Rawat carried out an aerial recce of certain areas and was briefed about key aspects of the security matrix in the region by senior military commanders.
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.
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.
'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.
The total capacity of these 32 earmarked hospitals is 1,890 beds, a senior official said.
The Dalai Lama will be in the north eastern state from April 4 to 13 and Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju.
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.
An S-400 unit located near Delhi for protecting the capital would be able to shoot down Pakistani aircraft even before they cross the border to India, and Chinese aircraft while they were still in Tibetan or Nepalese air space.
At the devastated Tapovan power project site rescuers worked nonstop even as the odds of finding the trapped workers alive seemed slim.
"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.
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.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting convened by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and attended by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) among others.
'Isn't it in India's long-term interests that Tibet-related issues do not remain a point of discord in Sino-Indian relations?' asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The paramilitary force on Tuesday night had issued a statement and said that "almost all patients are in need of uninterrupted oxygen."
Over 160 rights groups call on IOC chief to revoke 2022 Beijing Winter Games
China plans to build a 540-kilometre strategic high-speed rail link between Tibet and Nepal passing through a tunnel under Mount Everest, a move that could raise alarm in India about the Communist giant's growing influence in its neighbourhood.
Terming as 'inaccurate' reports that United States President Barack Obama has postponed his talks with the Dalai Lama, the White House has said the US president holds the Tibetan leader in great esteem and insisted that a meeting was never on the cards during the Nobel laureate's current trip to US.
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