China-wary govt puts Dalai honour on hold

Anticipating the matter to come up in talks between prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Hanoi, Vietnam, on October 29, the government has told Delhi-based Jamia Millia Islamia University to suspend conferring an honorary doctorate on Tibetan leader in exile the Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama was to get the honour in November.

Manmohan and Jiabao are meeting for the first time after China denied visa to Lt Gen BS Jaswal and New Delhi protested by putting on hold all defence exchanges with Beijing. The government obviously does not want to create further tension.
foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said on Friday the ministry of external affairs (MEA) was looking into the matter. 

Manmohan’s week-long visit to Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam begins on October 24. He will be in Hanoi in the third and final leg of the tour for participating in the 8th India-ASEAN and the 5th East Asia (EAS) summits on October 30, when he will have bilateral meetings with ASEAN and EAS leaders.

Jamia Millia Islamia vice-chancellor Najeeb Jung said the ministry of human resource development had voiced MEA’s concern at the timing of the felicitation, saying it was not opportune.

The 14th Dalai Lama, whose real name is Tenzin Gyatso, fled his country after the Tibetan uprising was crushed by Chinese troops in 1959. He has remained in exile ever since in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. He is one of the contentious issues between India and China.