The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal sovereign of Tibet, is an able and attractive young man who has just earned his doctor’s degree under Chinese professors.

He has hitherto met the wishes of Peking only in so far as he has acted as chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the Autonomous Region of Tibet. According to Tibetan custom, he should now, I’m told, tour his vast, but still- in spite of new Chinese roads- undeveloped country, where he is universally venerated.

The Chinese fear that the effect of such a royal progress would be to strengthen the morale of the rebels. So far, the Dalai Lama has refused their invitation to go to Peking. Tibetans now fear that Peking intends to abduct him.

The result has been fighting inside Lhasa. In south-eastern Tibet, the warlike Khambas, who resisted the Communists in 1950, and again rebelled in 1956, have now gathered under the united command of 16 chieftains and formed a legion called ‘Guardians of Religion’. Last summer they were strong enough to march on Lhasa to get the blessing of the Dalai Lama.

Their leaders now believe they can depend on the army, and focus the discontent of the mountain peoples who acknowledge the Dalai Lama’s sovereignty not only within Tibet, but also over the frontiers- into Sikkim, Nepal and Ladakh. A word either way from the Dalai Lama could be decisive. Here is ample cause for Nehru’s anxiety.