Show some spunk while dealing with China, govt told

NEW DELHI — The government's Tibet policy came in for sharp criticism yesterday, with former diplomats and experts pulling up the government for compromising on principles in a bid to placate China over the issue.
"China has claimed Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory and offended our sensibilities.
“We shouldn't give the impression that we are buckling under the Chinese pressure," former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said at a seminar on the situation in Tibet here.
"We should make it plain to the Chinese how our system works. Tibetans can hold peaceful demonstrations in India. The symbolism of the Olympic torch is incompatible with what is happening in Tibet," Sibal said.
"We must create space for ourselves. It's regrettable we are not thinking ahead," he said.
"We should have a more vigorous Tibet policy. It is at the core of our nationhood and our relations with China," Sibal underlined. G. Parthasarathy, a former Indian envoy to Pakistan, charged that the Indian government was "bending over backwards" to please China over the Tibetan issue. He strongly objected to the summoning of the Indian ambassador by Beijing past midnight to express concerns over Tibetan protests in India.
"Why should we keep blindly repeating that Tibet is part of China? As long as China claims Arunachal to be part of the Chinese territory, we should not concede Tibet is part of China," Parthasarathy asserted.
"India's ambassador is summoned at 2am in the morning and we don't protest," he said while alluding to New Delhi's diplomatic silence over Beijing's summoning of Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao by the Chinese foreign office recently.
"Stop being apologetic and work in the international community under international law," he advised the government asking it to show "spine" by speaking out on gross human rights violations in Tibet. "It's shocking that we have asked the Dalai Lama to resist from political activities. Let's not forget that the Dalai Lama fled from the Chinese persecution when he came to India in 1959.
“How can we expect him to keep his mouth shut?" he asked.
He was referring to a recent statement by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee saying that while the Dalai Lama was an honoured guest in India, he and his followers should not indulge in anti-China activities or any other activity on Indian territory that can hurt India's ties with other countries.
Soli Sorabjee, a former attorney general, criticised the government's response to the crackdown on Tibetan protesters as a sign of capitulation to Beijing and asked Beijing to stop brutal repression in Tibet. India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 in the northern hill town of Dharamsala.