Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Aug.10: The 17th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies (IATS), scheduled to bring more than 700 scholars and researchers to Kathmandu from August 23 to 29, has been moved online after the Government of Nepal instructed Kathmandu University to withdraw from hosting the international academic gathering, amid mounting diplomatic pressure from China.
The decision, which effectively scuttled the conference’s planned in-person format, was conveyed verbally to senior officials of Kathmandu University on August 3, according to an announcement issued by the IATS Board. The instruction was delivered in person by Nepal’s Chief Secretary, Govinda Bahadur Karkee, and Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai to Kathmandu University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr Rishikesh Wagle, Registrar Prof. Dr Rajeev Shrestha, and Prof. Dr Sagar Sharma of the university’s Himalaya Centre for Asian Studies (HiCAS).
The IATS said that neither its convenors nor the association had received any formal written communication from the Nepal government explaining the decision. Subsequent oral communications with government representatives, however, confirmed that the university had been instructed not to proceed with convening the seminar.
The IATS Board described the government’s action as “unexpected and unwarranted interference” in what it characterised as a purely academic event. It warned that the cancellation could have wider repercussions for Nepal’s reputation as a venue for international academic gatherings.
The abrupt intervention came after three years of preparations by the conference’s original convenors, Kathmandu University’s Himalaya Centre for Asian Studies and Centre for Buddhist Studies. The IATS said the decision was particularly unexpected because Kathmandu University’s hosting of the seminar had been agreed upon with all relevant parties in 2023, and no objections had been raised during the planning process.
Following the government’s intervention, the two Kathmandu University centres handed responsibility for the seminar to the IATS Advisory Board. On August 7, the IATS Board convened an emergency online meeting to determine the future of the conference. It subsequently voted to assume the role of conference convenor and move the entire seminar online from August 23 to 29.
The academic programme will remain unchanged, with scholars able to participate and deliver their papers virtually from wherever they are. However, the organisers said they would not be able to accommodate differences in participants’ time zones.
The IATS Board expressed regret that the original Kathmandu-based convenors had been forced to relinquish their role and thanked them for their three years of preparation, organisational work, and financial commitments to the event. Despite the disruption, the association said it remained committed to preserving the seminar as an international forum for scholarly exchange on Tibetan and Himalayan studies.
The cancellation follows sustained diplomatic pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. But the latest development, observers say, marks a significant escalation. Rather than merely preventing the host university from physically convening an international scholarly conference devoted to Tibetan and Himalayan studies, the episode has consequently raised broader questions about the extent to which Beijing’s sensitivities over Tibet can influence Nepal’s decisions on academic exchanges.
For the IATS, moving the seminar online is an effort to preserve the intellectual purpose of the gathering despite what it regards as an extraordinary last-minute intervention by the Nepal government. The association has said it will do everything possible to ensure that the academic programme goes ahead and that the IATS continues to serve as an international platform for scholarly exchange on Tibetan and Himalayan studies.
