Leak on the Roof

For years now, echoes have come across the lost horizon from remote Tibet that the Chinese Communists were having trouble digesting their 1950 conquest. Many of the reports of revolt and fighting came from refugees who in their excitement did not have all the facts straight, and when the details collapsed, so did the reports. But in 1957 Peking itself confirmed that all was not well: faced with passive opposition from Tibet's powerful Buddhist lamas and landlords, the Reds announced postponement of Communist "reforms" in Tibet for another six years.

Last week the Indians, who in their anxiety not to offend Peking have previously pooh-poohed rumors of trouble in Tibet, confirmed reports that tough Khamba tribesmen, who have been raiding for centuries against all intruders in Tibet, have now taken on the Reds. According to the reports, up to 8,000 of the leather-booted Khambas, swinging ancient swords on horseback, taking potshots with captured Red rifles and pushing boulders down the mountain sides onto Chinese truck convoys have gained control of a 200-square-mile area in eastern Tibet--most of the basin of the Brahmaputra River south of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. So far, they appear to be fighting more for themselves than in the name of the 23-year-old Dalai Lama, who with Red consent has managed to stay on his lacquered throne as Tibet's titular ruler.

The Indians, who are no longer openly cordial to Peking but are still determined to be correct, are disturbed by the rumblings to the north. They fear that if the Reds rout the tribesmen, the Khambas might seek refuge in India or the buffer states of Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan between India and China, providing China with a pretext for extending the fighting beyond Tibet into areas that Peking already claims as Chinese. Or, if the revolt spreads to include other Tibetans, the Reds might be driven to pouring in troops to put down the uprising, and force through the Communization of Tibet.

Either way, neutralist India would prefer not to have to think about it. At his press conference last week, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed that "it is well known that there have been troubles in certain parts of Tibet," but added that he did not want to exaggerate them--just as he only softly acknowledges "reports that the Chinese have moved into one or two small pockets of our territory."

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