With TabStrip, it's only possible to programmatically switch to URLs instead of indexes of the tabs. In some cases you may not have an URL, but a click handler, and therefore it is impossible to switch to the tab it represents. http://docs.kendoui.com/api/mobile/tabstrip#methods-switchTo
You can pass the href value to the switchTo method programmatically, as shown in the help article. Passing tab index is not supported.
Since the href value is not set, this would not work as a solution. Should I draw the conclusion that it will not be possible with TabStrip to have programmatic handlers for the tab buttons, but only declarative URL routes instead? In our app, the specific tab does not navigate to another view, but has an effect on the active view.
You can pass the href value of the tab to the switchTo method, as depicted in the referenced help article. Hope this is applicable solution.