Tibetans without citizenship in India longs for Identity and Homeland

What does it mean to live in exile?

“When we were in school, our teachers said that our forehead had” R ” – which means refugees,” says Tibetan writer, activist Tenzin Tsundyu.

Tsundue is one of about 70,000 Tibetans living in India, distributed in 35 certain settlements.

In 1959, thousands of Tibetans fled after an unsuccessful uprising against Chinese government.

After their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, they passed through the insidious Himalayan passages and reached India, where they were accepted as refugees of humanitarian reasons and for shared religious and cultural ties.

But life, or even born, does not make them Indians in India, says G -n Zundyu.

The Tibetans in India live on certificates for registration of renewable sources, issued every five years. Born here, they can apply for passports if a parent was born in India between 1950 and 1987 – but he must convey the certificate for it. Many are hesitant as it is closely linked to their Tibetan identity.

In July, when the Dalai Lama turned 90, thousands of Tibetan Buddhists gathered in the Dhararamhala, a quiet city nestled at the foot of the Himalayas in the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The city serves as the headquarters of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)-the Tibetan exile exile.

Even when they prayed for the long life of their leader, many like G -n Zundyu found themselves thinking about the uncertainty of living in exile.

The emotional burden of displacement, the legitimate end of endless citizenship and geopolitics around the Dalai Lama hung hard on the birthday party.

The Tibetans have continued to migrate to India for decades after 1959, running from China’s tightening to their homeland.

He gave Sangbo, 85, reached the Dharamshala in 1970 after a grueling seven-day hike through Nepal. “We ran at night and hid during the day,” he recalls.

Without having nowhere to stay in India, he survived by living in a tent for 12 years and selling spices in villages near Dhararashala. He now lives with his son and wife in a neighborhood, largely inhabited by Tibetans.

For many like Sangbo, running in India may have secured security – but they are still longing for their homeland.

“Home is home after all,” says Passing Gialpo, who fled Tibet to Nepal before settling in India in 1990.

Five years later, Gyalpo bribe the Nepalese security and joined Tibet to bring his family to India. But Chinese police chase him shortly after his arrival, forcing him to run. His family stays in Tibet.

“They are in their homeland, I am in a foreign land. What else can I feel but pain?” he asks.

For the younger Tibetans such as d -Tsun, who were born in India, the pain is more existential.

“The trauma for us is not that we have lost our land,” he says. “It is that we are not born in Tibet and have no right to live in Tibet. It is also a great sense of deprivation that something so important for our land, culture and language has taken us from us.”

Lobsang Yangtso, a researcher in Tibet and Himalay regions, explains that being ungodly means a lack of sense of belonging.

“It’s painful,” she says. “I have lived throughout my life here (in India), but I still feel homeless.”

Tibetans in exile are grateful to India for asylum, but they mourn the lack of rights – they cannot vote, own property or easily travel abroad without an Indian passport.

“We have an IC (an official travel document) that has been given by the Indian government as an identity certificate,” says Furbu Dolma. But airport immigration staff often do not recognize it.

Dorjee Phuntsok, Tibetan, born in India, said that many corporate jobs in India often require Indian passports. “Without one miss a lot of opportunities.”

In recent years, thousands of Tibetans in India have emigrate In Western countries using IC, which some countries consider visa applications.

Many have left students or work visas displaced to countries such as the US and Canada or have gone abroad for sponsorships by religious and humanitarian groups.

Penpa TSering, President of CTA, believes that the reason is mainly economic. “The dollars and the euro go further than what is offered here,” he says.

But for some like Thuptten Wangchuk, 36 years old who have switched to India as eight years old, the motivation is more personal.

“For (almost) 30 long years I have not met my parents and relatives. I have no one here,” he says. “The only reason I want to go to the west country is that I can become a citizen there. Then I can apply for a visa and enter Tibet to visit my parents.”

Some Tibetans acknowledge the need to be pragmatic given geopolitical pull and pressure.

“If you ask a Tibetan, they will say that they want to go back,” says Kuncho MiGmar, an CTA employee. “But there is no freedom in Tibet at the moment. No one wants to come back just to be beaten by the Chinese.”

The last Flashpoint appeared days before the 90th birthday of the Dalai Lama. He said his heir would be chosen from trust under his cabinet – the move that China rejected, insisting that he would decide according to his law. Beijing called the question of inheritance “thorn” in its relationships with India.

India formal position is that “it does not take any position on the beliefs and practices of faith and religion.” Moreover, two senior ministers of the Indian government shared the scene with the Dalai Lama on his birthday.

Dalai Lama message that he would bring relief to the Tibetans. But there is uncertainty about what his death may mean to the Tibetan movement.

“If we are preparing well from now, when his holiness is alive and (if) the future leaders who will follow us can continue their same speed, then I think this should not affect us as much as people think it could,” says G -n cening.

His optimism is not shared by all Tibetans.

“Thanks to the current Dalai Lama, we have these opportunities and resources,” says G -n phuntsok. He adds that many Tibetans fear that after passing, the community can lose the long -standing support that supported them.

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