Darjeeling: Forty six-year-old Tenzin Tsundue, a poet, activist and Tibetan refugee, can’t think of India as anything but his home. News reports of the Dalai Lama’s closest advisors and several Tibetan officials being potential targets of surveillance by a client of the NSO Group has emerged as a major shock for him and the Tibetan community residing in India. The Tibetan activist has dubbed it “misplaced priorities.”
“The Galwan Valley massacre has made it very clear that India should have been more skeptical of Chinese activities and not snooped on us, a bunch of Tibetan refugees for nothing,” stated Tsundue speaking to The Wire.
News reports have it that the closest circle of advisors around the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibetan officials, activists and clerics were selected as targets of potential surveillance by a client of the Israeli spyware firm NSO Group from late 2017 to early 2019. This information was gleaned from a leaked database of phone numbers, obtained by non-profit organisation Foribidden Stories and analysed by a global consortium of news organisations, including The Wire.
However, the presence of their phone numbers on the list may not mean that their devices were infected by the spyware. Only forensic analysis of the device can confirm whether this was the case. The Indian government has so far sidestepped questions about the allegations of illegal snooping, while the NSO Group has claimed that the leaked database is not a list of Pegasus targets or potential targets.
“We are as Indian as we are Tibetan. For us, independence of Tibet means India’s security. We are on the same side,” stated Tsundue, trying to explain the stand of thousands of Tibetans who have made India their home.
Tsundue was born to a Tibetan refugee family in India. His parents used to work as labourers on Indian border roads around Manali in North India. At the age of 22, Tsundue had braved the treacherous mountains, high passes, harsh weather conditions, blizzards, avalanches and had crossed the Himalayas on foot, entering Tibet with the aim to help “free his country from Chinese rule”. He was arrested by China’s border police and spent three months in prison, after which he was sent back to India.
“Whenever the Chinese premier – like Xi Jinping – visits India, security forces search for me, arrest me and throw me in jail. Whereas Xi Jinping is the one who brought soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Army to the Himalayan borders. Remember 2014, 2016 and 2019,” stated Tsundue.
In the past, Tsundue has launched a number of solo protests during the visit of Chinese premiers to India by unfurling the Tibetan national flag.
During the centenary celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party, Tsundue had protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on July 1, 2021, along with nine others. They were manhandled and detained at the police station.
Tenzin Tsundue shows injuries suffered during the protest against the centenary celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party. Photo: Tenzin Tsundue
“India has over two lakh soldiers on the Himalayan borders to prevent Chinese attacks. Every Indian is now convinced that Tibet must be liberated. It must be made the buffer zone it once was between India and China,” added the Tibetan activist.
The ‘snoop list’ includes the phone numbers of the staff of the 17th Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorji, the third highest ranking monk in Tibetan Buddhism; the Dalai Lama’s envoy in New Delhi Tempa Tsering; aides Tenzing Taklha; Chimmey Rigzen; Samdong Rinpoche and Lobsang Sangay, former head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). As the Dalai Lama does not use a smartphone, he cannot be spied upon using this malware.
The CTA (formerly the Tibetan Government in Exile) has adopted a guarded stance on this issue. When contacted, Tenzin Lekshey, the spokesperson of the CTA, told The Wire, “We were unaware of such a thing. We just heard about it from some news reports. We still don’t know the details.”
There are signs that suggest that India may have begun altering its policy on Tibet. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi wishing Dalai Lama on his 86th birth anniversary is a pointer to India-Tibet relations getting a new dimension,” said professor Srikanth Kondapalli, who teaches Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, speaking to The Wire.
Indo-Chinese relations sank to new lows after a violent clash in Galwan Valley, which resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and at least five Chinese soldiers. In the aftermath of that clash, there was a heavy mobilisation of Chinese and Indian troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Though the two sides agreed to disengage, recent reports suggest that tensions may have escalated once again.
In June 2014, the then Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had made it clear to Wang Yi, her Chinese counterpart, that while the Indian government supports Beijing’s “One China” policy, it would also expect China to reciprocate by adopting a “One India” policy.
Also Read: Dalai Lama’s Closest Advisors, Tibetan Officials Were Potential Targets of an NSO Group Client
Tibetans in India
Fearing for his life, the Dalai Lama escaped to India in March 1959, during the Tibetan uprising. It was then that he established the Tibetan Government in Exile. Tibetan refugees state that during the uprising, Chinese troops killed over 80,000 Tibetans, a figure that Beijing disputes.
According to professor Kondapalli, one reason for the snooping may have been the issue of who will succeed the current, 14th Dalai Lama. With the Dalai Lama’s advancing age – he is 86 years old – the issue of choosing the successor to the most powerful Tibetan seat is a matter of great importance to both China and India.
“This issue is in the limelight now. Among competing interests, both India and China are eager to know what they (the Tibetans) are thinking or doing,” he said.
In the past, there have been reports of alleged espionage and surveillance attempts on the Dalai Lama’s office and computers by China, as reported by Canadian researchers in 2009. They had described a systematic cyber-infiltration of the Tibetan Government in Exile.
The reincarnation issue has gathered momentum after Beijing claimed exclusive rights to choose the current Dalai Lama’s successor. The Chinese have already begun wooing Tibetan clergy in both Tibet and India to endorse their choice, as The Wire has reported.
“India in no way will allow this. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans are an important way to check China. The Dalai Lama’s endorsement of border territories belonging to India, which China claims as theirs, is one of the main reasons. Tibetans are a victim of geopolitics caught between two major powers,” stated an observer.
Meanwhile, the US has also attempted to halt Chinese advances on various issues pertaining to Tibet, including the reincarnation issue. The Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 makes it official US policy that the succession of Tibetan Buddhist leaders, including the Dalai Lama, should be left solely to Tibetan Buddhists to decide, without interference from the Chinese government.
Gonpo Dhondup, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, an international organisation advocating Tibetan independence, asked why China should be allowed to exercise control over choosing the Dalai Lama’s successor “when they don’t allow him to enter his own country” and describe him as a “wolf in monk’s robes”.
“They don’t even allow the Tibetans in Tibet to celebrate his birthday. No one can stop Tibetans from adoring His Holiness. He is the soul of Tibet,” Dhondup said.
Regarding the leaked database obtained by Project Pegasus partners, Dhondup stated, “This is nothing new for us. We have always been spied upon.”
The Pegasus Project is a collaborative investigation that involves more than 80 journalists from 17 news organisations in 10 countries coordinated by Forbidden Stories with the technical support of Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Read all our coverage here.
