Advani cool to Karmapa’s asylum plea

A delegation of leading Tibetans had met Advani in the first week of this month to plead the case of the 17th Karmapa for political asylum. The demand was echoed, more vociferously by foreign participants, at the international religious seminar held by the Kagyu sect at the Gyuto monastery near Dharamsala where the 17th Karmapa is staying. The issue was also raised at the five-day seminar organised at the Sherabling monastery near Baijnath.

Sources close to the delegation which called on Advani told this paper that Advani was cool to the request to grant asylum to the 17th Karmapa. He is reported to have said that Dorjee had arrived in India under “mysterious” circumstances and it was yet to be established how a teenager had managed to evade the elaborate security arrangements made by the Chinese authorities.

The request to allow Dorje permission to visit the Rumtek manastery in Sikkim, the traditional seat of senior leaders of the Kagyu sect, could also place New Delhi in a fix as the Chinese Government did not recognise Sikkim’s accession to India, Advani is reported to have pointed out.

It is learnt that security agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau and RAW, are not satisfied with the explanation given by the supporters of the 17th Karmapa about his flight from Tibet. They nurse the apprehension that he may have come to India with the consent of the Chinese authorities.

It is also rumoured that the young Karmapa may be a pawn in Tai Situ Rimpoche’s gameplan to gain control over the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. After the Tshurphu manastery in Lasha, Rumtek monastery is the main seat of the Kagyu sect, which, according to estimates, owns property worth $ 2 billion.