The Chinese are trying to rake up a non-issue with regard to the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Tawang monastery on November 8 despite the fact that this area was never part of even Tibet. And one has to remind people that Tibet was only “nominally” under Chinese suzerainty with the Dalai Lama of the time negotiating and finalising a treaty with Russia even before the McMahon line was drawn.
When in 1903-04 the British had sent an expedition to Tibet led by Colonel Francis E Younghusband, CIE at the head of a total of 623 British officers, 37 native officers, 1961 native NCOs and men, 1450 followers and 3451 mules, they had a free run of the country and there was no sign of the Chinese coming in their way. Except in one case near Gyantse when a Chinese official was ticked off by the British and he had “drowned his sorrow in opium”. There was no resistance to this British expeditionary force from the Chinese side thereafter at any point of time.
We quote here from the book, Glimpses of Early History of Arunachal by LN Chakravarty (Shillong, 1973) relating to one chapter on the Monpas (pages 21-22), Chapter VI. It says:
The north-west portion of the Kameng district is occupied by the Monpas. This area is under their occupation from the early days of the Christian era, maybe even earlier. They are Buddhists and had trade relations with the north, south and the west, that is Tibet, Assam and Bhutan. The Buddhist (Monpa) monastery at Tawang is possibly the largest in India. The people of the area speak the Monpa dialect. It may not be out of place to mention here that with the exception of the Khamptis of the Lohit district, the Monpas are the only people in the North-East Frontier Agency (the old name of Arunachal Pradesh) who can claim to have a script. The library of the Tawang Monastery can boast of a large number of books almost all of which are in manuscripts.
(This reporter had seen these manuscripts during his visit to Tawang in 1985).
In the early past of 1914, Captain Nevill, the Political Officer of the Western Section of the North-East Frontier, visited Tawang and suggested in his report about the appointment of a European officer to be in-charge of Tawang and some other measures for the benefit of the people of the locality. But due to various difficulties, mainly in connection with the Great War (the First World War) no action could be taken in the matter.
During the Simla conference of 1914, attended by the representatives of India, China and Tibet, a settlement of the frontier between India and Tibet was negotiated. As a result of these negotiations, an agreed line known as the McMahon line was defined on a map fixing the boundary for a distance of some 850 miles from Bhutan to the Isu Razi Pass on the Irrawady-Salween water-parting and the Tawang area fell to the south of this line.
It is a historical fact that the Chinese did not sign this agreement. But then, China was only a nominal suzerain of Tibet and despite their refusal to sign an agreement was arrived at and implemented. One may ask here the question if China was the real suzerain of Tibet, what was the necessity of the Chinese army marching into Tibet in 1950s? It was a clear case of “conquering an enemy territory” because there was no foreign power present in Tibet at that time, neither Russia nor India after the British had left in 1947.
Lonchen Satra, the Tibetan representative to the Convention, suggested that the Tawang area should be taken over quickly and tactfully; but owing presumably to pre-occupation with the Great War, necessary steps for the occupation of Tawang could not be taken. It was not until after about 20 years later that consideration was given to the question of making the frontier a reality.
In 1938, active attention could be paid to Tawang and Captain Lightfoot, the then Political Officer of the then Balipara Frontier Tract, led an expedition to Tawang. On return from tour, he submitted a detailed report suggesting some active measures to be taken to improve the conditions of the Monpas in general. But the Government of India could not agree to the proposals at that stage.
In the meantime, the Tibetans started showing signs of increased interest in Tawang and sent a high official with an escort of troops who started collecting taxes from villages far south of Tawang and issued summons to villagers as far as Rupa and Shergaon, claiming them to be Tibetan subjects and asking them to present themselves for an official Tibetan inquiry. He not only claimed them as Tibetan subjects but also told them that Tibetan territory extended far to the south.
Coming to know about these, the Government of India addressed a letter to the Tibetan Government to protest about the activities of their officers in the Tawang area. In reply, the Tibetan Government intimated that the most friendly relations now exist between the British and the Tibetan Governments, and if Rupa, Shergaon and Kalaktang are within the territorial jurisdiction of the British Government, the calling-up of villagers and attempts to obtain taxes from the above places cannot be justified. The Tibetan Government accordingly issued orders to their officers not to call up villagers and endeavour to levy taxes from the above-mentioned places. But they avoided naming Tawang which had been specifically mentioned in the note from the Government of India.
The matter did not end there. The question was raised by the representative of the Government of India at Lhasa who informed the Tibetan Government that the Government of India had been gradually extending their activities for the good of the inhabitants in question and her officers would continue to move forward up to the frontier .But they would not extend their activities beyond the McMahon line.
There were still some glitches, even after India’s Independence, and till 1951. “From our activities in Tawang, the Tibetan officials realised the futility of their claim and so finally recognised our authority over the Tawang area and left the area gradually.”
This is the history of the claim of the Tibetans and then, after the Chinese aggression of Tibet in 1950, their claim on Tawang. The Monpas and Tawang were not part of Tibet and in 1914, the McMahon line had decisively shown Tawang to be south of that line. This is the current situation which will remain so whatever the Chinese might say or do.
(The writer can be contacted at arabinda.ghmose@gmail.com)
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