For the second time in less than a year, Tibetan refugees devoted to the Buddhist protector Dorje Shugden have been denied permits to enter India. The denial by the Indian Embassy to eight refugees on May 9 was based on false allegations of collusion with China, by officers of Tibetan Refugee Reception Center in Nepa. If the public fails to pressure Indian authorities to abandon this practice, Society officials believe it could dry up the ability of Shugden followers to seek asylum in India and join Shugden monasteries in South India, Shar Gaden and Serpom Monasteres.
The latest denial of entry permits occurred on May 9, 2011, after the eight Tibetans, who had fled to Nepal, were brought to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. There they were asked questions through a translator assigned by the Tibetan Refugee Reception Center. After the interviews, their translator told them, βThe embassy will not issue you a permit because Chinese escorted you up to Shigatse.β Shocked, the refugees replied in a single voice that this allegation was not true. But their protests persuaded no one, and within hours, after a 15-day stay, they were thrown out of the Reception Center, left in a strange country, speaking a strange language, with nowhere to go. They are now in a most difficult situation.
The previous year, on June 3, 2010, Tibetan refugee Jampa Gyaltsen, 18, met the same fate. In both instances, the refugees were denied entry, it is believed, because their religious faith in the deity Dorje Shugden. For last 15 years, the Tibetan government in exile has taken an aggressive and increasingly public stand against the worship of the deity Shugden. For reasons itβs been unwilling to debate, the government in exile has spread propaganda linking Shugden devotees to China in order, turning other Tibetans against them, denying them services offered other Tibetans, and generally making their lives miserable.
The latest Tibetan newcomers, who fled Tibet to seek asylum so they can study Tibetan Buddhism in India, are from Chating province of Kham Tibet, where Shugden worship is prevalent. It is feared that the translator at the Tibetan Reception Center furnished false information against these Tibetans so that their permits would be rejected. No Tibetan newcomer can enter India without the entry permit.
The monks of Shar Gaden and Serpom Monasteries are deeply concerned that the refusal of permits based on false and baseless allegation will continue unless someone in authority delves into the refusals. If concerned Indian authorities do not investigate and interrupt this trend, allegations without substance will shut the door for Shugden Tibetans who want to seek asylum in India. That would satisfy blind followers of the Tibetan government in exile who naively believe and spread all manner of false and baseless allegations against Tibetan newcomers who have background of Shugden worship. But it will make it difficult to ensure a steady flow of monks to study in the Shugden monasteries, creating a dried up pool of those trained in the love, wisdom and compassion of this great protector deity.
As Shugden devotees, we are religious and law-abiding residents who want nothing to do with politics. Yet for years, we have been reviled, scapegoated, and smeared by those ignorant of the love, compassion and wisdom of Dorje Shugden.
Please, if you are so moved, intervene into this situation immediately. Urge concerned authorities to investigate the matter, and get these eight Tibetans to Indian embassy for entry permit. With faith and strong supplications to our protector, there will come a time when we will no longer be persecuted for our beliefs. For now, though, we can help by motivating someone in the Indian government to have the courage to listen to our stories and act. But we must persevere. To make your voice heard on this matter, please write to the following address. Please put your requests into your own words. Form letters donβt have nearly the power of communications delivered in peoplesβ own voices.
1) Honorable External Affairs Minister
Shri. S.M. Krishna
Fax : 0091 11 23013254 / 23011463
Email : eam@mea.gov.in
http://meaindia.nic.in/
2) Foreign Secretary
Smt. Nirupama Rao
Fax : 0091 11 23016781
Email : dirfs@mea.gov.in; psfs@mea.gov.in
3) Sh. Rakesh Sood
Ambassador
http://www.indianembassy.org.np/embassy.php
Email : amb@eoiktm.org
Fax: 00977 1 4420130
4) UNHCR IN NEPAL
Stephane Jaquemet
Representative
Anil Kuti, Maharajgunj,
Kathmandu, P.O.Box 2374 ,
Nepal.
Fax : 977-1 4412853
Email : nepka@unhcr.org
Website : http://www.unhcr.org/
