Monday, Jul 10, 2006
Indian Buddhist Monks Look to Lhasa as Border Post Opens
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Chant master Kunzang Norbu, who teaches child monks at a monastery in the Indian state of Sikkim nestled in the Himalayas, believes his prayers to visit the highest seat of Tibetan Buddhism in Lhasa have finally been heard.
 Tibetan workers load bags of rice from China.
© AFP MARK RALSTON "We have been praying day and night for years that the famed Silk Road is reopened so that people like us can visit Lhasa," said 30-year-old Norbu at Choten monastery in Sikkim's capital Gangtok.
"Today we said a special thanksgiving prayer that the Nathu La Pass is all set to reopen," Norbu said after leading a daily ritual with around 600 child monks.
India and China last month fixed July 5 as the date for reopening the historic Silk Road route at the 15,000-feet (4,545 metre) Nathu La Pass on the border between Sikkim and China's Tibet region.
The reopening will mark the first official land trade route between India and China since they fought a bitter border war in 1962.
Norbu's excitement is shared by close to 120,000 Buddhists in Sikkim, a remote Himalayan state of around 540,000 people snuggled between Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal.
"It has always been our dream to go to Lhasa and offer prayers at the Potala. I hope our dream become a reality very soon," said Sonam Lama, a tribal Bhutia Buddhist monk.
The Potala is Lhasa's cardinal landmark and since its inception in 1600 has remained the home of successive Dalai Lamas, the spiritual head of devotees of Tibetan Buddhism.
 Tibetan workers load bags of rice delivered from Jilin in China.
© AFP MARK RALSTON The distance from Gangtok to Lhasa via the pass is about 480 kilometers (300 miles) -- making the Tibetan capital far more accessible than the more tortuous route through Nepal.
"We have our religious roots in Tibet and so we are glad the Nathu La Pass is being reopened and expect the government to allow people free movement," said Karma Lama, a priest at the Enchey monastery in Gangtok.
While most Buddhists welcomed the reopening of the trade route, some however were apprehensive at the changes this may bring.
"We must be really watchful and remain vigilant as we cannot allow Tibetans to come and occupy our land under the pretext of tourism, trade or even visiting religious sites," said Rajesh Lama, a businessman in Gangtok and a Tibetan Buddhist himself.
Nathu La was a major trading point between the two countries before the 1962 war. It was also one of the main arteries of the Silk Road which historically linked China via Central Asia to Europe.
China intends to make Yadong, the border city on the Tibetan side that is known in India as Yatung and as Chomo in Tibetan, the biggest free-market border town in southwest China, state press said.
 Workers load bags of rice at the Lhasa freight transport station in Tibet.
© AFP MARK RALSTON Indian traders on July 4 carried out mock trading at the Sherathang market five kilometres below the Nathu La pass, to test out facilities there that include a customs and immigration post, a bank and telecommunications outlets.
A study conducted by the Sikkim government said trade via the pass could reach 12 billion dollars by 2015.
Christy Fernandez, additional secretary in India's federal Commerce Ministry, has an even grander vision, saying this week that the Nathu La Pass may soon become an alternative to a sea route for trade with China.
"We are examining whether more items can be allowed duty-free from Nathu La or expand it for normal bilateral trade between the two countries, which currently happens through the sea route," Fernandez told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Initially, only 29 items can be exported from Sikkim and 15 imported from Tibet through the pass.
China is one of India's largest trading partners, with total bilateral trade of nearly 20 billion dollars.
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