‘CIA trained Tibetan rebels‘

Erstwhile writer of murder mysteries, MIKEL DUNHAM has just published Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet. He speaks to G Sampath about the CIA, the American foreign policy, and in particular, Nehru's handling of the Tibet issue.

What exactly is your book, Buddha Warriors about?

It is the story of Tibetans who violently resisted the bloody occupation of their country by China. In the 1950s, thousands of Buddhist monks renounced their vows of non-violence, grabbed swords, and charged into enemy lines. Tibet's only source of outside help came from the United States, with a small group of CIA agents secretly training, funding and arming the freedom fighters. I scoured the refugee camps in Nepal and India, talked to the Tibetan disapora, befriended members of the CIA taskforce, examined US State department records,over a period of seven years of research.

Why did the Eisenhower administration decide to back the Tibetan resistance?

It fitted with their cold war agenda of helping anyone who were fighting the communists. Eisenhower had an excellent relationship with East Pakistan and through East Pakistan, in 1957, CIA smuggled six Tibetans out, without India getting to know about it.

What about India's role in this entire business?

In 1951, when the Americans became interested in helping the Tibetan rebels, and contacted Nehru he immediately refused arguing in favour of non-alignment. Mao Tse-Tung tricked him into believing that China wasn't invading Tibet, only going in for a few years to help modernise the country. So Nehru, for seven years, stonewalled US from interacting with Tibet, with the Dalai Lama. Most critically, all three times when the UN was approached by Tibetan officials, Nehru insisted that Tibet was a part of China. To be honest, it was not Nehru's finest hour.

Nehru was the first, and India was the first country to start the trend of appeasing the Chinese. Nehru knew Tibet had independent trade agreements with several foreign governments - agreements that made no reference to the Chinese government - but he was intent on playing ping pong. This came back to haunt him in 1962, when China invaded your country.

Then why did Nehru give refuge to Dalai Lama when he fled Tibet?

There wasn't much that he could do, because there was a huge groundswell of support for Tibet in India. In fact, Nehru forbade the Dalai Lama from talking to the foreign press for three months after he had landed in India. Only after the foreign press starting crying foul, did he allow the Dalai Lama to speak publicly. The Dalai Lama once mentioned to me, "I was talked to by Nehru as if I was a little boy, as to what I should and should not say."

Why did the US withdraw support to the Tibetan fighters?

You know, this guy called Henry Kissinger? Well, he had a secret meeting with Mao Tse-Tung, who said, well, if you want rapprochement with us, first get rid of the Tibetan guerrillas in Nepal, who are raiding my country and ambushing patrol cars. When Nixon heard this, he pulled the plug overnight.

How did the CIA deal with this sudden turnaround?

The CIA guys had fallen in love with Tibetans. They'd never worked with anyone with such motivation and they didn't enjoy spilling the bad news to the Tibetans. CIA always reminds you of conspiracies and stuff. But here, for once, they were the good guys, and they knew it. Even today, the living members of the CIA Tibet taskforce are supporters of the Tibetan cause. It's amazing.

One final question. Are you a CIA agent?

Excuse me! (laughs) I don't think they would ever take me. I'm too much of a wild card.