Claude Arpi, French born author of ‘The Fate of Tibet’ was at the Institute as the Guest Resource person on October 4, 2014. There were two sessions with him. The morning session on “THE INDO-TIBETAN RELATIONS: FROM SHIMLA TO PANCHSHEEL 1914-1954’ was attended by all at the institute. It was a very productive interactive session with personal insights by the Tibetan historian from Auroville.

Further readings on the topic by the author include: Born in Sin: the Panchsheel Agreement (Mittal Publications, New Delhi, 2004) and India and her Neighbourhood: A French Observers’ Views (Har Anand, Delhi, 2005), Tibet: The Lost Frontier (Lancers Publishers) and The Negotiations that never were: Dharamsala and Beijing (Lancer Publishers). More recently, he published 1962: The McMahon Saga (Lancer Publishers) and Glimpse of Tibetan History (Tibet Museum, Dharamsala).

The evening session was a pictorial presentation and commentary on ‘The Disney Land of Snows.’ Mr. Arpi through recent photos of Tibet presented the reversal policy of China on Tibet. The once barbaric, harsh Tibet is today being turned into a modern paradise – a Disney Land, a tourist haven for Chinese from the main land. This paradigm shift in policy is the new threat to Tibet –killing her softly with its number.