Tibetan showman to get Indian passport

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, September 23

Tibetan showman Lobsang Wangyal will get an Indian passport. The Delhi High Court has ordered the Ministry for External Affairs to issue an Indian passport to Wangyal within four weeks. Wangyal, while talking to The Tribune from Europe, said he was elated that he would have an Indian passport. The judgement of Delhi High Court would be path-breaking for many Tibetans who are born in India and want to have an Indian passport.

Wangyal also said the Delhi High Court has ordered the ministry to treat all Tibetans who meet the criteria of being Indian citizens by birth as Indians and issue them passports. The court held that the question of ‘nationality’ does not arise in cases where a person is considered a citizen of India as per the Citizenship Act.

The court judgement came in response to three separate writs, filed by Phuntsok Wangyal, Lobsang Wangyal and Tenzin Dhonden. All three Tibetans had been directed to apply for, and receive, a citizenship certificate from the Ministry of Home Affairs before they could acquire a passport. All of them own other proofs of their Indian citizenship like a voter identification card.

The High Court also quashed a letter written by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Election Commission, whereby the Ministry had stated that all Tibetans irrespective of their date of birth could not be presumed to be Indians. The court set aside the letter on the grounds that it was in violation of the Citizenship Act.

At present, Tibetans are issued a Green Book that acts as an identity card of being registered as a Tibetan refugee in India and a Yellow Book that acts as a passport. However, the Tibetans who want to travel out of India face a lot of problems due to Yellow Book as they do not have a passport.

“Like many young Tibetans. I was born in India. As per the Indian laws anyone born in India, in a period ranging from 1950 to 1987, was naturalized citizen and can apply for the Indian citizenship. I fulfil the said criteria. In addition to that the Indian government has issued me a voter identity card and I even voted in the last Lok Sabha elections”, Wangyal said.

“However, when I applied for Indian passport I was told by the officials of passport office in Shimla that it cannot be issued to me. The passport officials told me to get an India citizenship certificate for getting the passport. I approached the office of Deputy Commissioner Kangra, SP Kangra and other offices in the state. Almost all of them informed me that they cannot issue the Indian citizenship certificate to me.

“I then applied for the Indian citizenship certificate with the Union Ministry for Home. However, the officials there had also been dilly delaying ”, he pointed out.

The sources said like Wangyal several Tibetan exiles were seeking the Indian citizenship.