On the 10th of March 1959, a Chinese military general, Zhang Chenru invited the 23-year-old Dalai Lama to a dance performance but without his body cards. The Tibetans feared that this might be a Chinese trap to abduct or even kill their spiritual leader. In 1950, China had invaded and annexed a large part of Tibet. And the Chinese were on a mission to force the Dalai Lama to accept a total military takeover of Tibet. On the day of the performance, thousands of Dalai Lama's Tibetan supporters gathered outside his palace. There were protests fueling rumours that the Chinese were planning a military assault. But the Dalai Lama had planned an escape from Lasa. On the night of the 17th of March disguised as a soldier, the Dalai Lama, his family and several top officials slipped through the crowds and escaped. The Indian Consulate in Lasa had already been requested to grant the Dalai Lama asylum in India. Tibet and India, through the ages, had a strong commercial and cultural relationship. The border had been peaceful and India always treated Tibet as a separate nation. However, following the Panchashil agreement signed by India and China in 1954, India gave up the extraterritorial rights it had inherited from the British in Tibet and acknowledged it as the Tibet region of China. After fleeing Lasa, the Dalai Lama and his entourage embarked on a two week long journey crossing the Himalayas and the Brahmaputra to seek refuge in India. On the 26th of March 1959, their caravan reached the border between India and Tibet from where the Dalai Lama sent a letter to the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Lehru. It said, Ever since Tibet went under the control of red China and the Tibetan government lost its powers in 1951. I, my government officers and citizens have been trying to maintain peace in Tibet, but the Chinese government has been gradually subduing the Tibet in government. In this critical situation, we are entering India. I hope that you will please make necessary arrangements for us in the Indian territory, confident of your kindness. India was ready to welcome the Dalai Lama and took measures for his protection. On entering India, the entourage stayed briefly on the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh. In April, the Dalai Lama reached Masuri where he met Nero. And on the 3rd of April 1959, India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. He later permanently settled in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, already a sanctuary for thousands of Tibetan exiles fleeing Chinese repression. Here, he set up the Tibetan government in exile. Nero's bold move to grant political asylum angered China, which claimed total sovereignty over Tibet and alleged that India had violated the principle of non-interference and peaceful coexistence in the punch-sheel declaration. But the Tibetan problem aggravated already deteriorating tensions on the India-China border. In January 1959, Joe and I, the premier of China, had told India that China did not recognize the Mech Mahan line, which had served as the boundary agreed upon by Tibet and British India as part of the 1914 Simla Convention. For long, Tibet had acted as a buffer zone between China and India. But its annexation of Tibet brought the two countries into direct contact, creating tensions along the border, which remains disputed to this day.