AUDIO INTERVIEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS IN TEXT

SN TITLE AUDIO CLIP HIGHLIGHTS IN ENGLISH
1. The Fifth Dalai Lama and a Muslim saint, Pir Porola.
  1. The eccentric Sufi Saint- Pir Porola- Whose real name was Faruq Ju and never prayer in a mosque.
  2. The V Dalai Lama noticed a man on top of a hillock every day at noon. He was summoned.
  3. The Pir after meeting the Lama begged to leave the country since his identity has been revealed.
  4. Pir was asked if he has any request to be made to the Dalai Lama.
  5. Pir requested for help to the sixty poor families in Lhasa.
  6. Coming of “Germans” (Austrians- Heinrich Harrier) after WW-II
  7. Kashmiri words used in Khaches’ spoken Tibetan.
  8. Kashmiri surnames
  9. Khache’s cuisine, “Salaan” (Sam-de), a favourite of the aristocrats.
  10. Eid/Losar exchange of greetings and food.
  11. Inter-marriage with Tibetan Buddhists.
  12. Why business of Khaches could not develop as much as those of Khachar/Nepalis.
  13. The Khaches mostly  in  tailoring- dress and  cap making.
2. Tolerance of Tibetan Buddhist society towards Islam
  1. Tibetan Law governing Tibetan Muslims in Tibet. No criminal record of any crime.
  2. How the conservative Lamas of monasteries viewed existence of a Muslim community practising a different religion in Tibet.
  3. Was there any pressure on the Muslims to convert to Buddhism?
  4.  A tax on every female member of the Tibetan Muslim community.
  5. A proposal to shift the mosque away from Barkhor and response of the 13th Dalai Lama.
  6. Selection and functions of the “Poonch” and Khache Pompo and role of the Tibetan Government.
  7. Different ethnic sub groups combined to form this community, the Khaches.
  8. Roots or signs of Kashmiri ancestry?
  9. Who are the “Sing-ba Khaches”- The Singh/Sikh-Muslims?
3. School Days in the Lhasa Madrasa and Tibetan School
  1. Teaching of Islamic studies in Lhasa Madarasa
  2. Learning of Tibetan script in Tibetan school.
  3. Service with Tibetan Government.
  4. Life of youth in Lhasa.
  5. Cuisines and dress.
4. Remembering Shigatse and Lhasa
  1. Remembering childhood in Shigatse, Tsetang and Lhasa
  2. Chinese monitoring Muslims in Lhasa.
5. Life in Shigatse
  1. Khache Picnics in Shigase- “Sharu” dances and singing “Nagma”- a delight for the local Tibetans, both aristocrats and folks.
  2. The Khache Football Team.
  3. Panchab- the Court Jester!
  4. Practising Islam in Shigatse and trading precious stones!
  5. Benarasi Silk by Benarasi silk merchants in Shigatse
  6. Ceremonial dress for attending special occasions.
  7. Difficult in tracing Kashmiri roots, if there were any.
  8. History of land allotment to Khaches’ graveyard by Dalai Lama- Chandanga!
  9. Celebration of Urs by the community and awarding children who completed the Quran
  10. Imprisonment and death of community’s leader in Chinese prison.
6. Practice of Islam in Lhasa
  1. Ramadan time in Lhasa.
  2. Some religious practices prohibited now
  3. Present condition of Khaches in Srinagar
  4. Contribution of Khache in Tibetan music- Nangma.
  5. Old Lhasa destroyed- Old houses and shops of Khaches in Lhasa now no more.
  6. Fate of the Lhasan aristocrats after Chinese occupation
  7. About some prominent families of Lhasa
  8. Articles imported from India and Tibetan goods traded.
  9. Chinese raids in Khache homes.
7. Muslims of Shigatse
  1. “Panch” Committee of Shigatse
  2. A single mosque for all ethnic Muslims (Chinese, Kashmiri, Nepali) of Shigatse.
  3. Present day Shigatse Muslims appealing to the community in India for help in running their mosque and madrasa.
8. Memories of the Forgotten Tibet by a 92 year old Tibetan Muslim woman
  1. Length of journey from Lhasa to Calcutta
  2. Khache trading “Bailas” in love with Tibetan women.
  3. The British customers (Francis Younghusband expedition) buying from Khache shops.
  4. Singba (Singh/Sikh) Khaches offspring of soldiers of General Zorawar Singh.
  5. The three Kashmiri traders who settled down in Lhasa.
  6. The story of Chandagan, the Khache land in Lhasa given by the V Dalai Lama.
  7. The story of the V Dalai Lama.
9. Narrating the incident of US Airforce crash at Samye,Tsetang by grandson of Sanaullah who had rescued the crew. Story told in a book, “Lost in Tibet” by Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt.
  1. The rescued crew borrows some money and later in return hands over six gun licenses arranged through the Dikilinga, the Indian Mission.
  2. Reaction of Tibetan villagers to the crash.
  3. Rescued and housed at home for one month by Sanaullah, grandfather of the interviewee, Ghulam Nabi.  
  4. Three rescued, two still missing. Luckily the remaining two also found alive and reunites.
  5. The rescued crew ask Ataullah to allow one of his kids to go with them to States.
  6. A letter of Appreciation given.
10. One Tibetan Muslim (Ataullah) of Tsetang helped the crew of crashed US Airforce
  1. Khache families in Tsetang.
  2. Ataullah (Sanaullah) helped the American crew
  3. Khache families of Shigatse
  4. Khache Pompo and others jailed by the Chinese.
  5. Khache school at Akhun Sanga for Islamic studies but many attended the Tibetan school for learning Tibetan.
  6. Relatives left behind in Lhasa
  7. “Thamchi”- social punishment to the former aristocrats.
11. Life under Chinese occupation
  1. Shortage of food during Chinese occupation
  2. The blue blood remains blue despite thamchi
  3. Death of an old cherry tree and an Imam
  4. Lucky to have escaped from Chinese oppression on being Indian
  5. Grateful to Pandit Nehru and Indian Government
  6. High taxation imposed by the Chinese on manufacturing and selling products destroyed the community’s business.
  7. Those who demanded repatriation to India were arrested and imprisoned.
12. Citizenship status of TMs in Tibet during Chinese occupation: India and China’s opposing versions
  1. Chinese claim of Khaches being Tibetan citizens were refuted by the Indian side.
  2. There were no system of issuing Tibetan passports to travel to India.
  3. Haj pilgrimage was from Bombay on a temporary Indian passport.
  4. A tax on every female member of a Khache’s family to establish the fact that the women in Khache belonged to “Tibetan” lineage.
  5. The effort of the Tibetan Government for shifting the Khache mosque outside the sacred Barkhor was vetoed by the V Dalai Lama.
  6. Lack of proper medical facilities in Lhasa. Dikilinga, the Indian Mission was the only place providing modern medical facility.
  7. How Eid was celebrated by the community. Practice still followed by the community in India today.
  8. Costumes of Khaches- both male and female wore the Tibetan chuba, with slight difference in the way it is worn, similar to Ladakhis. Rumi caps and dastars worn on heads.
  9. No “purdah” for women, only on religious occasions. Different hairstyles for women as per marital status.
  10. The poor families, numbering 30-40 received alms before Eid prayers.
  11. Love affairs! The Ladakhi cinema hall attracted many young couples. Many affairs and marriage between  Khache men and Tibetan Buddhist women.
13. Tibetan Muslims punished for defying their philosophy
  1. Food boycott targeted on Khaches for not accepting their version of being Chinese. Help comes from the Indian Mission.
  2. How the Indian Government and Indian Mission in Lhasa helped the community to migrate to India.
  3. Names of different houses where Khaches lived on rental basis in Lhasa. Identification of a person was after the name of the house where he/she lived.
  4. How the “Habalinkas”, the Chinese Muslims differ from the Khaches.
  5. About the Chisti family of Lhasa.
14. Confiscation of properties- Re-distrubution
  1. Bright students were sent at a very young age by the Chinese authorities to study in Peking. This included children of the Tibetan aristocrats.
  2. After they had learnt sufficient Chinese, their services were used as interpreters while dispossessing and confiscating the lands and cattle stock of the landlords and monasteries in Tibet.
  3. Gold and Precious stones confiscated were separately packaged and sent to Peking.
15. Thamchi- worst form of personal humiliation
  1. Now the aristocrats after “thamchi” earned their livelihood working as labourers and lived in cattle sheds. Although they were shabbily dressed but their faces showed their blue blood. Hungry and thirsty, they begged for food and water.
  2. Khazi Pompo sacrificed his life for the safety of the community.
  3. Some utensils in possession had signs of its origin from Kashmir.
16. Imprisoned in Lhasa- for Speaking The Truth
  1. Father swaps imprisoned son-in-law in prison
  2. A Khache youth having good handwriting imprisoned allegedly for writing anti-Chinese posters.
  3. Khazi Pompo despite pressure refuses to accept Chinese nationality and prefers jail, where he dies.
  4. Abdul Gafoor (Bai Abdu Gabula), Lhasa’s famous   baker of Tibetan breads, also introduced “Indian Jalebee” to the Tibetans.
  5. Most of the Khaches lived and had shops around Barkhor, close to the Tibetan Buddhists’ sacred temple.
  6. The status of Khaches as Tibet’s permanent resident were similar to the “Khachhars”, the Nepali trader having married a Tibetan woman and settled in Tibet.
  7. Although from different ethnicity, both Khaches and Havalinkas, the Chinese Muslims lived harmoniously.
  8. The issue of Khache’s origins from Kashmir cropped up only when the Chinese began to assert its authority over Tibet. With the increasing hold of the communist-atheist Chinese on local governance, the future of the community had to be worked out.
  9. The link to Kashmiri origins was doubted because of facial features of most of the Khaches; more mongloid and Tibetan than Aryan Kashmiris.
  10. The Chinese insistence on Khaches being not foreigner and thus continue to live under their rule had to be strongly opposed by exploiting Kashmiri roots.  They offered all types of help if the Khaches decided to stay in Tibet.
  11. Living under a rule which despised religion was unthinkable for the pious and God-fearing Khaches.
  12. The community at this point regretted for not having registered earlier as non-resident Indian with Dikilinga, the Indian Mission.
  13. Looking back after forty years, it seems, it was a good decision on leaving communist-Tibet and living in a free country like India where one can freely practice ones religion.
17. Remembering the difficulties faced during the last days in Lhasa before migration to India.
  1. Evading the arrest.
  2. Boycott of food supplies only to be lifted if the Khaches agree for Chinese citizenship in Tibet.
  3. In last forty years of communist rule in Tibet, Islamic studies and institution suffered a lot, with one generation completely ignorant of basics of Islamic tenets.
18. Hijrah Begins---The Journey to Kashmir: Home of ancestors
  1. Relatives in Nepal and Shigatse.
  2. Finally free from an oppressive regime- into an oppressive climate.
  3. Make shift arrangements of tents and acclimatisation.
  4. The Three Friends who risked facing the Chinese and managed to lead the community to freedom- Fazlullah Baba, Akhu Halim la and Bai Barkazullah.
19. Tibet is Past, India is Future
  1. Arrest of the Khache Pompo, Ghani-la and six others
  2. Donations from community  despite risks of being caught
  3. Tibetan in culture but  citizen of India.
  4. How a land, Chandagan. in Lhasa given by the V DL to bury the dead.
  5. The Penjoling babu......
  6. Some of the Khaches also suffered Thamchi.
  7. Dikiling, the Indian Mission--- Hope and expectations. Evidences shown to the Mission Head to link Kashmiri ancestry.
  8. 120 families listed for departure.
  9. In India, relationship with the Dalai Lama.
  10. Aid for the Tibettee School in Srinagar.
20. Escape to Freedom!
  1. Many precious idols and thangkas were not carried to India
  2. Reason why the minority Khache community was treated so well by the Tibetan Government and the Tibetan people.
  3. History of 500-600 years of Khaches in Tibet- Tibet was the homeland.
  4. Khaches registering as Indians with the Indian Mission angered the Chinese authorities which led to arrests and food boycott.
  5. Prime Minister Pandit Nehru took personal initiative in taking up the issue of Tibetan Muslims’ repatriation to India with his Chinese counterpart.
  6. The leaders of the Khaches were not spared the dreaded “thamchi” session.
21. Imprisonment and death of husband in prison
  1. Recalling how for no reason her 25 year old young husband, Abdul Ghani was arrested and tortured in Chinese prison.
  2. About Akhun Po Amdullah who imparted Islamic education to young children and took care of the Khache mosque.
  3. Reunion with close relatives of Lhasa after forty years during Haj, Makkah.
  4. Before arrest, the house was raided and papers and photos seized.
  5. The reason being insistence on being Indian wanting to leave Tibet.
22. The Singba-Khaches meaning Singh-Muslims of Tibet connected with soldiers of General Zorawar Singh
  1. Haji Abdul Qadir, Singhba Pompo (Head of Committee of Singh/Sikh Muslims).
  2. The Tibetan Government in Tibetan treated the Muslims very well.
  3. Old graves at the Chandagan are those of people from Kashmir, India
  4. Till the Chinese came, life in Tibet was peaceful.
  5. How the Singhs/Sikhs came to live in Lhasa- Tibet-Dogra war. Assimilated with the Khache community, of Kashmir origins and converted to Islam.
  6. Some ironsmiths, photographer sent to Tibet by the British also settled down in Lhasa and became part of the Khache community.
  7. Within the community, there was no difference between Zaida/Kashmiri and Singh/Sikh Muslims, except the two sub-groups had separate  Pompos/Chiefs.
  8. Role of Tibetan Government in selection of Khache Pompos.
  9. Many of these captured Singh/Sikh soldiers also converted to Tibetan Buddhism and settled down in a village,  Chon-de. They continue to live there. Many also took celibacy and became Buddhist monks.
  10. Which Khache families are Singba Khaches?
  11. No more signs of origin as Singh or Sikh from India.
  12. Khaches are multi-linguists: Tibetan, Urdu, Nepali.
  13. the Khache families left behind in Lhasa suffered a lot for almost twenty years till the Communist China allowed some freedom in practice of religion.
  14. Compared to the Khaches, the Havalinka/Chinese Muslims in Tibet were better off economically and were recipient of favourable dispensation from the Chinese authorities.
  15. Experience of few who went to visit Lhasa from India/Nepal after a gap of 30 years was not pleasant.
  16. Not many Tibetan Muslims/Khaches are now seen in Lhasa, the Chinese Muslims have completely taken over that space left by them.
  17. The gate of the Khache mosque (Chota masjid) in Lhasa symbolises fusion of Tibetan and Islamic architecture.
23. HH Dalai Lama meets TM community
  1. Dalai Lama always expressed his love for the Khaches.
  2. He would promise return together to Tibet soon.
  3. He loves Khache bakery and enjoy eating with his typical sense of humour.
  4. Remembering the mourning of Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s death.
  5.  Remembering friends and shops seen in pictures of Barkhor.