For years, the Tibetan community has been protesting against China’s illegal occupation and gross human rights violations committed by China in Tibet. Every year Tibetan people commemorate the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Proclamation of Tibetan Independence and proclaim Tibet as a free nation.
Tsering Passang, Founder and Chair of the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, said that on February 13, 1913, the 13th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people proclaimed Tibet as a sovereign nation which is commemorated today as the 110th declaration for reaffirming Tibetan Independence.
When India was under the rule of Great Britain, Political Officer Colonel Francis Younghusband led an expedition to Tibet in an attempt to build up exclusive colonial influence in this hidden mountainous country in 1903-04.
After negotiations, the Tibetan Government signed a convention with the British Government in 1904, which is well documented in the UK Foreign Office’s archives. China was not involved at the time of signing this international agreement. It confirmed the boundary and trading rights, and among other things, it undertook that no foreign power should be allowed to intervene in Tibetan affairs without the consent of the British government.
Notably, Qing Dynasty invaded Tibet in 1910 after the Manchus surged its influence in the region. The invasion forced the 13th Dalai Lama into exile, this time to India.
However, internal political forces led to the collapse of the Manchus and the rise of the 1911 Revolution in China. Tibetans expelled the remaining Manchus out of Lhasa and other parts of Tibet.
A month after his arrival in Lhasa, on 13th February 1913, in his Proclamation of Tibetan Independence, the 13th Dalai Lama declared: “Tibet is a country with rich natural resources, but it is not scientifically advanced like other lands. We are a small, religious, and independent nation. To keep up with the rest of the world, we must defend our country. In view of past invasions by foreigners, our people may have to face certain difficulties, which they must disregard. To safeguard and maintain our country’s independence, one and all should voluntarily work hard. Our subject citizens residing near the borders should be alert and keep the government informed by special messenger of any suspicious developments. Our subjects must not create major clashes between two nations because of minor incidents.”
For nearly forty years afterwards, Tibetans enjoyed self-rule – only for it to come to an end in 1949, when after Mao Tsetung declared the “peaceful liberation” of Tibet from foreign imperialists.
For the Tibetans, Mao’s declaration was not only a brutal attack on the Buddhist religion and the Tibetan cultural heritage but an act of illegally occupying their peaceful country by Communist China.
The Tibetan people have a proud history of independence with the successive Dalai Lamas enjoying spiritual patronage over Mongols and Chinese emperors.
Also, Tibetans, especially the youth, are calling for the independence of Tibet, which they believe would only bring a lasting political resolution to the Sino-Tibetan conflict.
Each year, on 13th February, Tibetans organise protests and commemorative events to mark this historical date whilst highlighting Tibet as an independent country before Communist China’s invasion in 1950. (ANI)
