{"id":32813,"date":"2020-09-07T15:25:16","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T09:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=32813"},"modified":"2020-09-07T15:25:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T09:55:16","slug":"ram-madhav-in-soldier-funeral-a-strong-signal-to-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=32813","title":{"rendered":"Ram Madhav in soldier\u2019s funeral a strong signal to China?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Company Leader Nyima Tenzin, military sources say, was killed in an accidental mine blast during patrolling in Ladakh last week<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"BJPBJP leader Ram Madhav pays tribute to Company Leader Nyima Tenzin. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In a signal of what could be a major shift in the Government of India\u2019s policy on publicly acknowledging the 58-year old \u201cSpecial Frontier Force\u201d (SFF), BJP general secretary Ram Madhav attended the funeral of Company Leader Nyima Tenzin who, military sources said, was killed in an accidental mine blast during patrolling in Ladakh last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The funeral of Tenzin, who belongs to the Choglamsar Tibetan refugee settlement outside Leh, was held on Monday morning. Soldiers wearing the SFF uniform gave the last salute, and Mr. Madhav laid a wreath. Chants of \u201cBharat Mata ki Jai\u201d (Long live India) and \u201cTibet desh ki Jai\u201d (Long live the Tibet nation), along with slogans of the \u201cVikas Regiment\u201d (as the SFF\u2019s seven battalions or \u201cEstablishment 2-2\u201d are known), were raised after the bugle was played at the funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cAttended the funeral of SFF Company Leader Nyima Tenzin, a Tibetan who laid down his life protecting our borders in Ladakh,\u201d wrote Mr. Madhav in a tweet on Monday, adding, \u201cLet the sacrifices of such valiant soldiers bring peace along the Indo-Tibetan border. That will be the real tribute to all martyrs.\u201d The tweet was later deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the funeral, and whether the public funeral of the Tibetan soldier denoted a departure from the past. A senior MEA official told The Hindu that Mr. Madhav \u201cdoes not represent the government,\u201d adding that as there had been \u201cno official communication, only media reports\u201d of the funeral, it did not signify a change in the government\u2019s position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Amid the stand-off<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The presence of Mr. Madhav, a senior leader of the ruling party, at the funeral and the public acknowledgement of the SFF\u2019s role in operations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was seen by many commentators as a strong message by New Delhi to Beijing, at a time the Indian and Chinese forces are engaged in a four and a half month stand-off along the LAC in Ladakh. India has traditionally recognised the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) as a part of China, and although it is home to Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama and more than a lakh of Tibetan refugees, maintains that they do not organise or engage in any political activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is part of larger signalling to China \u2014 Tentative steps to convey we won\u2019t be overly concerned about their sensitivities if they continue to ignore ours\u201d, said Ashok Kantha, Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) and former Ambassador to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said, \u201cWhile mourning the unfortunate death of the brave Company leader Nyima Tenzin, it would have been wise to avoid unnecessary publicity about the SFF and their ostensible Tibet \u2018connection\u2019 in an atmosphere already charged along the LAC between India and China\u201d This probably was the reason for the tweet being deleted later, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Other former officials handling Tibetan issues said the government policy should not be changed frequently as this sent conflicting signals internationally as well as to the Tibetan community in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis can be quite meaningless and even misleading if not backed by a firm commitment to a practical, robust and coordinated policy,\u201d said Amitabh Mathur, who was the government\u2019s advisor on Tibetan affairs, referring to the widely publicised funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in in May 2014, the government invited the Sikyong or Prime Minister of the Tibetan \u201cGovernment in Exile\u201d Lobsang Sangay to the ceremony, and in 2016, the Dalai Lama was invited to a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, in 2018, an MEA order reminded all public officials that it was against the government\u2019s policy for them to take part in functions with the Tibetan community in India, and subsequently a number of celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Dalai Lama\u2019s escape from Tibet to India, and an international parliamentary conference on Tibet were cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

With inputs from The Hindu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Company Leader Nyima Tenzin, military sources say, was killed in an accidental mine blast during patrolling in Ladakh last week BJP leader Ram Madhav pays tribute to Company Leader Nyima Tenzin. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement In a signal of what could be a major shift in the Government of India\u2019s policy on publicly acknowledging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}