Somewhat successful in wooing western countries, the Tibetan exile government seems to treat South Asia as a backwater. Understandably, the primary focus of the public relations effort has been to gather international (read North American and European) support. Faced with the stringent restrictions placed by India and, more so, Nepal on. Tibetan activism, Dharamsala has been concentrating elsewhere.
The lack of interest in Tibetan affairs among even educated South Asians reflects the realpolitik that has guided official Indian and Nepali policy, which resists any talk of Tibet as being anything but part of China. But a foreign policy position need not have the result of burying or discounting the social, cultural and economic ties that the Himalayan rimland populations have had with Tibetans for centuries.
Though Tibetan refugees find themselves among South Asians, they have either given up trying or have not tried hard enough to reach out to the Indian and Nepali politicians and intelligentsia. Lodi Gyari, who till recently handled international relations for the government-in-exile, says, "One has to be candid. We have failed in reaching out to the region. For immediate gains, we felt it important to emphasize raising awareness in the West because only the West has the economic and political power to make an impact on China. But for the long term, it is more important to create an awareness in India and Nepal than in, say, the United States."
It is easy for Tibetans to be waylayed by Westerners because the latter come looking for them. Somehow, the exile Tibetans' cause seems to have struck a deeper resonance in the West. Whereas the Nepali or Indian is liable to look at Tibetans as just one more ethnic group among so many, except that these are refugees from "Bhot".