DHARAMSALA: The agitators spearheading the anti-Tibetan movement in Dharamsala called on the local Indian Community, last week, to be mentally prepared for a proposed agitation in favor of their demands and warned the Center and state governments against the presence of Tibetans
The agitators took out a silent pro cession and assembled before the of fice of the Deputy Commissioner, where they delivered speeches and presented a memorandum of their demands to the DC
The speakers including Himachal Pradesh Gaddi Union president, Trilok Kapoor and Himachal Bachao Morcha convener Sanjeev Sharma, called upon the Tibetans to change their attitudes with regard to Indians, change their lifestyles according to the Indian tradition and learn the Indian languages if they wished to live in the country. Besides, they demanded immediate arrest of all members of the gang of the Tibetan youth who had stabbed Lipenderjit to death.
Meanwhile, the situation in the city and McLeodganj which were witness to the violent incident after the killing of the Gaddi youth, remained calm, Some Tibetan traders in McLeodgunj closed their shops in apprehension of some trouble on the occasion of the “kriya” of the deceased
The other demands of the agitators included high-level inquiry into all benami land transactions by Tibetans, strong action for illegal distillation and drug trafficking in McLeodgunj, printing of Tibetan messages and posters in Hindi and English, prohibiting Tibetans to de- scribe McLeodgunj as “Litde Lhaca” and enforcing family planning measures among Tibetans.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 13, 1994
