In his first post-Covid tour outside Dharamshala, the Dalai Lama has set forth on a visit to Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. He will be visiting the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on July 14, followed by a visit to Ladakh on July 15.
This is the first such visit by the Buddhist leader in over two years from his permanent residence in Himachal Pradesh. The Dalai Lama’s office has said that it will be a personal visit and there are no plans to hold any public or religious event during the tour.
The Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit comes ahead of the Sixteenth Commander-level talks to resolve boundary disputes between India and China, which is scheduled later this week on July 17.
Commenting on the border issue, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, during a recent visit to Tamil Nadu, had said that India-China talks to resolve boundary issues are ongoing through discussions involving military commanders and diplomats.
India-China ties have hit a low since the Galwan Valley clashes at the Line of Actual Control in 2020. While India acknowledged the death of 20 soldiers following Chinese aggression, Beijing, while accepting that there were casualties in Galwan, has remained tight-lipped on the exact number of its casualties.
The Dalai Lama’s visit is bound to irk Beijing, which treats the respected spiritual leader as anti-China. The Chinese military had invaded Tibet and captured its capital Lhasa in 1959. A young Dalai Lama managed to escape the Chinese military by undertaking an arduous journey of passing through snow-clad mountains and reaching India to seek refuge. Since then, he has been living in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, with the Tibetan government-in-exile operating from India. More than 1,60,000 Tibetans live in India.
On July 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called the Dalai Lama to wish him on his 87th birthday. The phone call drew sharp reactions from the Chinese side. “The Indian side should also fully recognise the anti-China separatist nature of the 14th Dalai Lama and abide by its commitment to China, speak and act prudently, and stop using Tibet related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry had said.
In a rebuttal the same day, the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi had said, “It has been the consistent policy of the government to treat His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an honoured guest in India, a respected religious leader who enjoys a large following in India. And His Holiness is accorded due courtesies and freedom to conduct his religious and spiritual activities. His Holiness’s birthday is celebrated by many of his followers in India and abroad. The birthday greetings by Honourable Prime Minister to His Holiness on his 87th birthday, yesterday, should be seen in this overall context.”
India and China have amassed heavy armoury and large number of troops at various points along the northern border in Ladakh since June 2020.
Jaishankar had met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on July 7 in Bali, Indonesia on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. During the meeting, India called for the need to sustain the momentum to “complete disengagement from all the remaining areas to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas”. The EAM also reiterated that the India-China relationship is best served by observing the three mutuals – mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.
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