Fatherland or livelihood: Value orientations among Tibetan soldiers in the Indian Army

Abstract

The recruitment to military in modern nation states, by and large, is voluntary. Although it is commonly assumed that a soldiers' job in the army is to fight against the enemies of their motherland, the Indian Army has a regiment of Tibetan soldiers who are not Indians as per the law of the land. Known as Special Frontier Force (SFF), this regiment was until recently a secret wing of the Indian Army. Joining the Indian Army during the heydays of their diasporic dispersal due to the Chinese territorial aggrandizement and Sino-Indian war of 1962, with a hope of direct encounter with their enemies, Tibetans continue to be voluntarily recruited to the now non-secret SFF. As part of the Indian Army, they should be ready to fight the enemies of their host country. In fact, over the decades, they have been requested by India to take part in several military exercises. In the changed international geopolitics, Tibetans in exile may not get another opportunity to fight against their own enemies. The trajectory of the value orientations of the Tibetan soldiers in the Indian Army constitutes the axial concern of this article.