(TibetanReview.net, Aug24’26) – The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) made it clear today that it did not withdraw from the 17th International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) seminar which was scheduled to be held in Kathmandu over Aug 23-29 following China’s objections, as claimed in numerous media reports cited by this outlet.
It also denied media reports that it had cited change in schedule as the reason why an expected meeting in Ladakh between the Dalai Lama and the US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, did not take place. Gor visited Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on Aug 20 and 21 respectively.
The English.nepalnews.com Jul 26 and an indiatoday.in Jul 27 earlier quoted an unnamed Nepali security official as saying: “Respecting Nepal’s foreign policy and to avoid creating an uncomfortable situation, the CTA decided at its Jul 21 meeting in Dharamshala not to participate officially. However, it has indicated that Tibetan scholars and experts may still attend the conference as private individuals.”
Also, the kathmandupost.com Aug 5 cited the Nepali co-organizers as saying they had already agreed to Beijing’s core conditions for the seminar to go ahead without its objections.
Even so, Local co-organizers from Kathmandu University (including Prof. Sagar Raj Sharma of the Himalaya Centre for Asian Studies) later confirmed that they decided to call off the in-person event after top government officials instructed them not to host it, noting that no specific written reasons were provided.
Organizers stated that the order was delivered in person by Nepal’s Chief Secretary, Govinda Bahadur Karkee, and Foreign Secretary, Amrit Bahadur Rai, during a meeting with university leadership.
But neither Kathmandu University nor the IATS received a formal written order or detailed explanation from the government.
The local co-conveners and the IATS’s international board noted that despite the forced cancellation of the physical gathering in Kathmandu, the week-long academic programme would proceed via an online format.
The CTA also denied an indiatoday.in report Aug 21 – citied by this outlet in its Aug 23 report – that had the CTA telling the media that there was a change in the programme on the night preceding Gor’s visit, and so the meeting did not happen. A number of other media reports also said the same thing.
Referring to both these report, senior CTA official Mr Tenzin Lekshay said that he as the official Spokesperson of the exile Tibetan set up should have been in the know if these were true.