(TibetanReview.net, Jul27, 2016) – It was their murky dealings in meeting with worshippers of the controversial Tibetan spirit called Dorje Shugden who are seen as a threat to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, which prompted India to deny any further short-term extension to the already expired visas of the three Chinese journalists who had been asked to leave the country by Jul 31, suggested deccanherald.com Jul 26.
The report said the visit of the three Xinhua journalists to Karnataka last April had come under scanner of the intelligence agencies not only because they had used fake names during their travel but also because they had met some exiled Tibetans from Bylakuppe and Mundgod settlements who were anti-Dalai Lama in being worshippers of the Dorje Shugden spirit.
The report noted that New Delhi had of late been concerned over growing activities of the Dorje Shugden worshippers in the two settlements. China has in the past officially spoken up for this group which has been running a global campaign to defame and denigrate the Dalai Lama.
The report noted that the Serpom Monastic University at Bylakuppe and the Shar Ganden monastery in Mundgod were among the main centres of the Dorje Shugden sect in India. It cited sources as saying the group had been trying to wage a rebellion against the Dalai Lama.
Officially, however, India says that the visas granted to Wu Qiang and Lu Tang, who respectively head China’s official Xinhua news agency’s bureaus in Delhi and Mumbai, as well as to She Yonggang, a reporter in Mumbai bureau of the agency, had expired several months ago. But they had been granted fortnightly extensions while the Xinhua had been asked to send their replacements. However, as their replacement kept failing to come, India made it clear that no further extensions could be granted after Jul 31.