Just wanted to share this news item on the 4th Karmapa which seems very convoluted as all Tibetan matters appear to be. It is amazing how politics and religion are constantly intertwined where Tibetans are concerned. And the Dalai Lama will put his opinion in and then appear to leave the ensuing issues for others to solve, such as in this case.
It will be interesting if the deportation goes ahead.
Delhi High Court delays government's attempt to deport Buddhist monkBy AYESHA ARVIND
PUBLISHED: 21:53 GMT, 25 October 2013 | UPDATED: 00:30 GMT, 26 October 2013
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2477068/Delhi-High-Court-delays-governments-attempt-deport-Buddhist-monk.htmlThe Delhi High Court has come to the rescue of Lodro Chokyi Nyima, the fourth re-incarnation of Karmapa Jamgon Kongtrul, who has been asked by the Centre to go back to Tibet.
The HC has stayed the deportation notice for now and has sought a response from the Centre as to why it wants to extradite the monk to Tibet where there is threat to his life.
Nyima's biological parent sneaked him into India from Tibet in 1997 when he was only two years old.
The parents feared "political misconceptions of the Chinese Government" after the Dalai Lama revealed that Nyima was the fourth re-incarnation of the Karmapa.
Nyima was taken in by the monks at the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim and adopted by a local couple.
He has since been living in the country with his parents as an Indian citizen.
Passport rowAs per the records submitted before the HC, the Central Tibetan Administration had consented to the adoption.
A passport was issued to Nyima in 2006 and he even travelled to the US on the same.
However, in 2007, the Centre sent a letter to Nyima and his adoptive mother Kunzang L Chungyalpa informing them that the monk's passport was being revoked as he had not entered India lawfully.
The letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs further said that Nyima could not be granted India citizenship by virtue of adoption as the process did not fulfil statutory conditions as per Section 4 of the Citizenship Act.
ESCAPE FROM TIBETIn 1997, the Dalai Lama revealed that Lodro Chokyi Nyima, a two-year-old child born in Lhasa, Tibet, was the fourth re-incarnation of Karmapa Jamgon Kongtrul, a Buddhist master.
This alarmed Nyima's parents who sneaked him into India to protect him.
Their fears were prompted by the attacks on the third Karmapa incarnation, Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, allegedly by the Chinese government.
Nyima and his parents reapplied for citizenship citing the adoption documents affirmed by the Sikkim government and the Tibetan authorities.
The application, however, was rejected by MHA. In 2009, the family approached the HC through senior advocates Ram Jethmalani and D.K. Thakur seeking relief.
The counsels contended that Nyima's adoption could not be challenged as the parents had followed all state norms, and on the basis of the adoption papers he was entitled to all citizenship rights.
The court took a note of the fact that the Central Tibetan Administration had consented to the petitioner's adoption and stayed his deportation till further orders.
"The fact remains that he was issued a passport in 2006 that was later revoked. Concededly, he has been residing in India, all this while.Having regard to these circumstances, the court is of the opinion that till the next date of hearing, no coercive steps should be taken to deport the petitioner," the court said in a previous hearing.
It has sought a detailed synopsis of the matter from both parties by the month-end and fixed the matter for hearing in December this year.
