The Hindu : National : India will not stop protests as long as they are peaceful

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India will not stop protests as long as they are peaceful

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: India has told China that it will not stop protests by Tibetans on its soil as long as they remain peaceful. At the same time, it has assured full security to the Olympic torch when it arrives here next week, according to highly placed sources. The sources also denied that India’s Ambassador to China was summoned at midnight after Tibetan protesters entered the Chinese Embassy here. These sources insist that their comments are non-attributable.

“We have told China categorically and consistently that we are a democratic country which gives everyone the right to express themselves as long as they do not break the law by attacking property or trying to cross the border without valid documents. It holds for everyone,” said highly placed sources.

“Our approach on Tibet is fairly clear. It is an autonomous region of China and we don’t see this changing despite demonstrations.

On the other hand Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the world’s greatest living Gandhian.”

The sources refuted media reports of Indian envoy in Beijing Nirupama Rao being summoned to the Chinese Foreign Office at 2 a.m. Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan had also made similar observations, but declined to give details. Giving the sequence of events for the first time, the sources revealed that Beijing was rattled the day Tibetan protesters broke into the Chinese embassy here because there had been attacks on six of its missions in other countries. After receiving the report from the New Delhi mission, the Chinese Foreign Office called up Ms. Rao at 9 p.m. for consultations. As she was busy with other engagements, Ms. Rao drove down to the Foreign Office after 11 p.m.

The Nepalese envoy was also summoned because these two countries hosted the highest number of Tibetans.

Hackers traced

While admitting that hackers with IP (internet protocol) addresses traced to China had broken into the computer network of the Ministry of External Affairs, official sources said no sensitive information had been accessed because classified information was normally not stored on computers with on-line connections.

Describing hacking as a regular hazard of depending on electronic communications, the sources said that though the IP addresses had been traced to China, it did not imply the involvement of state agencies.

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