Tibetan Activist Silenced by Indian Government

Urgent Campaign - 16 November 2006

(Please take action by Friday 17 November)

The Indian Government has caved in to strong pressure from the Chinese Government prior to the upcoming visit by President Hu Jintao to India between 20 and 23 November. It has banned Tibetan writer and activist, Tenzin Tsundue, from travelling outside the jurisdictional area of Dharamsala where he resides during Hu's visit. In a letter, issued by the Office of the Superintendent of Police on 13 November, Tsundue was threatened with prosecution under the Foreigners Act of 1946 if he failed to obey the order. When asked what prosecution would mean Santosh Patial, the Additional Superintendent of Police, replied, "Deportation to Tibet".

Tsundue came to international media attention when he unfurled a Tibetan flag from the 14th floor of The Oberoi Hotel in Bombay 2002 during the visit of China's then premier Zhu Rongji and performed a similar feat from the Indian Institute of Science during Wen Jiabao's Bangalore visit in 2005, resulting in world-wide media attention.

"Clearly this is pressure from the Chinese Government," said Tenzin Tsundue, who has been under constant surveillance by police in his Dharamsala hometown for the last few days. "I was born in India and I am working only non- violently for the human rights and freedom of my people. This issue is not about me but it is about the six million Tibetans who are suffering every day under Chinese rule and who are deprived of their voice to speak out against the occupation."

Tsundue's banning order is an obvious violation of his freedom of expression. It is also the latest example of governments and businesses allowing China to force them into undemocratic behaviour so as not to offend China and its sensitivities regarding its dire human rights record.

Tenzin Tsundue studied English Literature at Chennai and earned a Masters in English and Philosophy from Bombay University. Tsundue is currently the General Secretary of Friends of Tibet in India. He visited London during summer of 2006 and gave testimony at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Legislation Office about his imprisonment in Tibet in 1997. He also took part in protests with Free Tibet Campaign in London against the new railway (as reported in our summer issue of Free Tibet).