VZCZCXRO8432
PP RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHLH RUEHNH
RUEHPW RUEHVC
DE RUEHCI #0116/01 1011000
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101000Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1955
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0098
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0061
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2389

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLKATA 000116 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF IN CH NP
SUBJECT: TIBETANS ARGUE OVER A THIRD RINPOCHE AS CALLS FOR A 
GORKHALAND STATE CONTINUE 
 
REF: KOLKATA 66 
 
KOLKATA 00000116  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  During a March 27-30 visit to Darjeeling and 
adjoining towns, ConOff spoke with the Tibetan community about 
the unrest in Lhasa, and attended an enthronement ceremony for a 
possible Third Reincarnation of the Domogeshi Rinpoche.  ConOff 
also visited the Tibetan Self-Help Center in Darjeeling, which 
is funded by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.  Tibetans around 
Darjeeling were very aware of the news out of Tibet, and the 
Tibetan Solidarity Movement has been organizing rallies in the 
area against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet.  Tibetans in W. 
Bengal are also caught up in current calls by ethnic Nepalis for 
a separate Gorkhaland state in the Darjeeling area, as Bimal 
Gurung's Gorkhaland Movement continues to make waves.  End 
summary. 
 
The Diaspora 
------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) During March 27-30, ConOff visited the Darjeeling area 
of North Bengal, meeting with Tibetan Buddhist monastery 
administrators, local Tibetan businessmen, and residents.  An 
estimated 120,000 Tibetans live in India, and approximately 
7,000-8,000 Tibetans are believed to be living in North Bengal 
and Northeast India.  A sizeable portion of them reside in the 
Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in North Bengal. 
 
¶3.  (U) On March 29, ConOff attended an enthronement ceremony 
for a U.S.-born Third Reincarnation of the Domogeshi Rinpoche, 
four-year-old Lobsang Jigme Wangchuk, at Samten Choling 
Monastery in the town of Ghoom.  Samten Choling is one of the 
Tharpacholing monasteries run by the Yellow Sect, a Tibetan 
Buddhist Sect that is historically allied with the Dalai Lama. 
The young Third Reincarnation was located in Brooklyn in 2006 
after a search organized by Yellow Sect leaders. (Note: The 
previous/second reincarnation, Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche, was 
taken prisoner by the Chinese and released in 1961 after 
repeated requests from the GOI.  After his exile from Tibet, the 
Second Rinpoche moved to India and worked with the Dalai Lama. 
The Second Rinpoche passed away in 2001.  End note.)  The 
enthronement was attended by around 500 local Tibetans and a 
dozen Western followers of the Second Reincarnation. 
 
¶4.  (U) On March 31, at Gaden Chholing Gumba monastery in nearby 
Pedong, a competing Yellow Sect faction scuffled with Lobsang 
Wangchuk's followers over his enthronement claim.  While 300 
Wangchuk supporters tried to enter the monastery to enthrone 
him, the rival group claimed that the true successor was Tenzing 
Jigme Dhendup, who had already been enthroned elsewhere and whom 
the Dalai Lama supposedly had blessed.  Police were called out 
to enforce a court order obtained by Dhendup's supporters 
preventing Wangchuk's followers from entering the monastery and 
holding an enthronement ceremony, and Wangchuk's enthronement 
did not take place. 
 
¶5.  (U) There are a number of Tibetan monasteries in North 
Bengal, providing communal bases for local Tibetans to share 
news and discuss current events, including the recent crackdown 
by the Chinese government in Tibet.  Information about the 
situation in China spreads more effectively now because of the 
presence of cell phones and other communication technologies. 
Tibetans around Darjeeling were quite aware of the unrest and 
expressed support for their kin.  There were also general 
feelings of frustration with the GOI for not taking a harder 
stance with China. 
 
Registering Protest 
------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) A number of protests in the region have been organized 
by the Tibetan Solidarity Movement (TSM), a body supported by 
the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, to draw attention to the Tibet 
situation.  On March 20, around 200 Tibetans left Darjeeling en 
route to the Nathu-La India-China border crossing in Sikkim, 
intending to express their support for Tibetans against China. 
They were stopped by Indian police, however, at the West 
Bengal-Sikkim border.  In response, the Tibetan marchers began a 
hunger strike.  The Secretary of the Sangag Choling Monastery 
(Dali Gonpa) in Ghoom, Ngawang Tenzin Gyatso (please protect), 
told ConOff that the hunger strike lasted for three days until 
the Dalai Lama sent word that it was not necessary to continue. 
Further marches and demonstrations of support are planned in the 
coming weeks. 
 
 
KOLKATA 00000116  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.  (U) On March 31, the West Bengal and Sikkim sub-committee of 
the TSM organized a protest march in Siliguri, and made a 
five-point charter of demands.  These included: 1)sending a 
fact-finding international delegation to Lhasa for inquiry into 
the March 14 massacre, 2)allowing "free" media to report in 
Tibet, 3)immediate medical assistance for the victims, 4)release 
of detained Tibetans in Lhasa, and 5)free movement of people to 
and from Tibet. 
 
Self-Help Under Government-in-Exile 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) Post spoke with staff at the Tibetan Self-Help Center 
(TSC) in Darjeeling.  The Tibetan Government-in-Exile funds the 
organization and the more than 600 employees describe themselves 
as "Tibetan government bureaucrats."  They provided a list of 
over a dozen Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the TSC's regional 
area of responsibility as well as contacts to other regional 
Tibetan Self-Help Centers in Kalimpong and Sonada in North 
Bengal.  They stressed that the contacts were only for Tibetan 
Buddhists, and that many other Buddhist monasteries exist in the 
region. 
 
Minority Woes 
------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Almost every Tibetan that ConOff spoke with stressed 
that Tibetans have no voice in local politics in the region. 
They lack voting rights, are a minority in the majority-Nepali 
community, and say they are left to the whims of the Nepali 
community agenda.  The Tibetans say they support Gorkha Janmukti 
Morcha (GJMM) leader Bimal Gurung - who is demanding a 
Gorkhaland state - because they lack any other options and 
because he is immensely popular among the region's Nepalis 
(reftel). 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Gurung's call for a separate state of Gorkhaland is 
likely to continue until the government relents.  Former Chief 
of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) Subhas Ghising no 
longer enjoys popular support and even local Tibetans feel 
Gurung may be less corrupt and provide better services for the 
people than Ghising did.  Ngawang Tenzin Gyatso observed that 
Gurung's men had pressured Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the 
area to provide support for the recent strikes in Darjeeling for 
the Gorkhaland cause.  The religious institutions were reluctant 
to become involved in politics, but could not refuse. 
 
¶11.  (U) ConOff witnessed the presence of GJMM everywhere -- 
from small, isolated, mountainside hamlets to downtown 
Darjeeling.  Carnival style party flags were strung across the 
streets and from building to building.  Most private houses were 
also flying larger individual party flags.  Posters declaring 
"We Condemn 6th Schedule" and other pro-GJMM graffiti were 
ubiquitous throughout the region. (Note: Ghising had advocated 
6th Schedule, or spQial tribal status, for Gorkhas in 
Darjeeling, which was rejected by the GJMM and local Nepalis.) 
While less prevalent, there were also large posters of Gurung in 
Darjeeling.  In April, GJMM captured the leadership of the local 
municipality from Ghising's Gorkha National Liberation Front 
(reftel). 
 
¶12.  (U) Comment:  While current events in Tibet are 
overshadowing the in-fighting among Tibetans in eastern India, 
the standoff between rival Yellow Sect factions may require 
intervention from higher-ups in the Tibetan Buddhist structure 
to resolve.  As in other parts of India, Tibetans appear to 
remain outside the political structure, and in N. Bengal they 
may get caught up in the growing Gorkhaland call.  Bimal Gurung, 
assisted by GJMM secretary Roshan Giri who is rumored to have 
links to the Maoists in Nepal as well as the criminal 
underground, is perceived as a ruthless and tough player.  Over 
the past few months, a series of strikes supporting Gorkhaland 
calls were enforced by the GJMM even though some businessmen and 
organizations were unenthusiastic.  Until a solution to the 
Gorkhaland demand arrives, instability will likely continue and 
Tibetans will be caught up in the political situation in 
Darjeeling. 
SURAMPUDI