Sarvadaman
The history of Tibet is full of unprecedented upheavals and the status of Tibet remains contentious till day. Until 1949, Tibet enjoyed independent nation status in the Himalayas and there existed a deep Buddhist influence of the Mahayana and the Vajrayana teachings of Buddhism on Tibetan people. In nutshell, Buddhism played a critical role in unifying the Tibetans. The Tibetans have their own language, culture, literature and art. However, this peaceful Buddhist country was invaded by China in 1949 and since then, 1.3 million people out of appropriately 7 million Tibetans have either been killed or exiled or imprisoned by China. The Communist regime of China which effected the invasion of Tibet in 1949 had also destroyed more than 6000 monasteries across Tibet and virtually enforced their will upon the natives of Tibet which ultimately forced Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Political and Spiritual Guru to flee to India in 1959. As of now, their revered spiritual Guru Dalai Lama is living among over 1.25 lakh other Tibetan refugees in India and Dalai Lama is also heading Tibetan Government in exile.
The Tibetan plateau lies about 14000 feet above sea level and is blessed with enough of natural resources. It is apt to mention here that Tibet is the source of five main rivers of Asia upon which appropriately over 2 billion people depend on. The Tibet is also blessed with countless forest wealth but since 1959, the Chinese Government carried out blatant destruction of forest wealth in which they successfully removed over 55 billion dollars worth of timber. In other words, the Chinese Government is instrumental in destroying over 80% of their forest wealth and other natural resources. Dalia Lama (the 14th) is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Buddha and he is literally waging relentless struggle for preservation of human rights, women rights, cultural and politico-socio and religious freedom of native Tibetans there.
As far as history of Tibet is concerned, the Tibetan state is believed to have been in existence in 127 BC after the establishment of Yarlung Dynasty under which the country was first unified by King Songsten Gampo and his successors. Tibet remained one of the powers of that period which became evident after studying pillar inscription at the foots of the Potala palace in Lhasa (capital of Tibet) and also after studying Chinese history of the period which clearly revealed that a peace treaty was concluded between Tibet and China during the period 821-24 CE which had resulted into demarcation of borders between the two countries. Moreover, when Genghis Khan, the Mongol Emperor expanded towards China in the 13th century, the Tibetan leader of powerful Sakya school of Buddhism entered into an agreement with Mongol leaders to thwart the invasion of Tibet. Their relationship became so important that when afterwards, Kublai Khan, attacked China and established Yuan dynasty in the 13th century, he invited the Sakya Lama to become the supreme pontiff of his empire. This relationship continued to exist for a considerable period between the Mongols and the Tibetans which became amply clear from the fact that the Mongols never integrated the Administration of Tibet and China in any manner. However, in mid 14th century, Tibet broke political relations with the Yuan Emperor before China attained its independence from the Mongols.
Thereafter, Tibet developed no ties with Ming dynasty of China. Likewise, on the political front, some powerful Emperors of Manchu dynasty succeeded in establishing a considerable level of influence over Tibet which became clear from the fact that Manchu Emperors dispatched their imperial troops for nearly four times to Tibet to protect the Dalai Lama and also the Tibetan people from any possible foreign invasion of Mongols as well as Gorkhas. Finally, at the height of foreign relations and also Manchu power, Tibet was virtually reduced to the level of protectorate State but Tibet was however, never annexed into the Manchu empire. However, the Manchu influence did not last long and it almost faded away at a time when the British invaded Lhasa and concluded a bilateral treaty in Tibet known as the Lhasa convention in 1904. Despite, loss of imperial influence, the Government in Peking continued to claim some authority over Tibet which the British Government termed “Suzerainty” while dealing with Peking. Chinese imperial Armies tried to reassert their influence by invading the country and occupying Lhasa in 1910. After 1911 revolution in China and over throwing of the Manchu dynasty, the troops surrendered to the Tibetan forces who were finally repatriated under a Sino-Tibetan peace accord. The Dalai Lama reasserted his position by declaring independence of Tibet internally by way of issuing a proclamation and externally by opening communication channels with foreign rulers and also entering into the treaty with the Mongolia. However, during the period between 1911-1950, Tibet virtually behaved like an independent State as it maintained diplomatic relations with Britain, Bhutan, Nepal and India.
Relations with China however, remained strained and finally, Chinese waged war with Tibet which ultimately resulted into the forcible annexation of Tibet into the Republic of China which also made Britain to intervene and convene a tripartite conference in Shimla where the representatives met on equal terms and the British delegation reminded his Chinese counterpart that Tibet entered the conference as an independent Nation having no allegiance to China. However, the said Conference remained unsuccessful as it failed to resolve the differences between Tibet and China but nevertheless, this conference remained significant in terms of Anglo-Tibetan relationship which bonhomie ultimately paved the way for establishment of bilateral trade and border agreements between British and the Tibetans.
When India became independent in 1947, the British mission in Lhasa was replaced with an Indian mission but Tibet never maintained international relations on an extensive scale except with Nepal, Bhutan and India. The turning point of Tibetan history is witnessed in 1949, when People Liberation Army of China occupied substantial portion of Tibet where Chinese Government imposed its “17 point Agenda” on the Tibetan Government in May, 1951 and this agreement has no validity under international Law and it resulted into the total annihilation of the Tibetan State. However, the new generation of the Tibetans are determined to regain their country’s independence by resisting the Chinese occupation there.
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