Enter the Dragon: Chinese Invasion
of Tibet continues ....

Another result of the frenzied but often disorganized local Khampa reprisal attacks was the Chinese decision to disarm the Khampas and other eastern Tibetans. All these measures together created a huge exodus of thousands of Amdoas, Goloks and Khampas to Lhasa. Unhappiness and discontentment against the Chinese were rife.

The organized Tibetan resistance began as a result of, and a reaction to, the Chinese atrocities in Kham. It started under Gompo Tashi Andrugtsang’s leadership, starting as an idea in 1956. Gompo Tashi was one of the most influential and powerful men in Kham. After the devastation at Lithang, which was also his home-town, the people appealed to him to help get rid of the Chinese oppressors. The idea of an organized resistance thus only began in 1956, when influential Khampas such as Gompo Tashi Andrugtsang realized that the old ways of life would be gone for ever unless the Chinese could be driven out of Tibet. But for that outside help and an outside base were needed.

The obvious base was the nearest suitable area in India which happened to be Kalimpong, across the Himalaya mountain chain via the Chumbi valley and across the Jelep La. The willing supporters were the Americans, in the form of the CIA . The Indian Government was not directly involved at this stage, and though India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) was aware of their activities, India had turned a blind eye to it. India’s involvement with the Khampa resistance began only after the military defeat against China in 1962.

The Khampas had always been used to visiting Kalimpong in India, which lay at the end of the traditional trade route from Lhasa to the Indian plains. It was both the shortest route and the easiest, crossing over an easy pass over the Himalayan crestline, Jelep La, which means ‘easy pass’. One Khampa who joined the Tibetan resistance war against the invading Chinese described Kalimpong thus:

To be continued....