Tibetan leader-in-exile thanks US for migrants’ visas

Dharamsala, June 28 (IANS) Tibetan prime minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay Friday thanked the US Senate for passing a landmark comprehensive immigration bill, which enables creation of 5,000 immigrant visas for Tibetans settled in India and Nepal.

“I have had the opportunity to meet with several senators from both parties (Republican and Democratic) and I’m deeply grateful for their support for the inclusion of the Tibetan provision in the immigration bill,” Sangay said in a statement here.

“I now hope the Senate bill will receive support in the House of Representatives as well,” he said.

US Vice President Joe Biden, who presided over the roll call from the Senate’s dais, Thursday afternoon announced that the immigration bill had been approved by 68 to 32 in the 100-member chamber, more than the majority needed to send the measure to the house.

Officials of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), which is headquartered in this north Indian hill town, said among many provisions of the bill one is creation of 5,000 immigrant visas for Tibetans settled in India and Nepal over a three-year period.

The Tibet-related provision received broad bi-partisan support and was introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein and cosponsored by Chairman Patrick Leahy and Senator Chuck Schumer, an official said.

He said Sangay, whose prime minister’s post has acquired added stature with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama stepping down from diplomacy and active politics, had visited the US three times since assuming the office.

In his meetings with various congressional leaders and their key aides, Sangay and his staff had pressed the case for Tibet and Tibetans, including with regard to immigration issues.

Buddhist monk arrested in Kham Province of Eastern Tibet

Dharamshala: On July 1 2013, Lobsang Gedun, a 20 year-old monk from Dzongsar Monastery was arrested in Tsawa Pashoe County, Kham Province of Eastern Tibet at around 10:00 am (Tibetan local time).

"During the celebration of the Founding Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, Gendhyum rose in the middle of the recital of the Chinese National Anthem and began to shout slogans like "Long Live His Holiness the Dalai Lama' and 'independence of Tibet' and expressed his resistance against the Chinese oppression," said Shetsa Lobsang Tenpa from south India, citing sources in the region.
Sources to The Tibet Post International said that after protesting for 5-6 minutes, the Chinese army assembled at the venue and arrested Gedun and since then, his whereabouts are unknown.

Following the arrest, several restrictions have been imposed in the Tsawa Pashoe and Chamdho region. Lobsang Gedun is from Gura County and his father's name is Kalsang and mother's name is Palzom and his layname is Gyadho.
According to Tibetan poet and blogger Woeser, Tibetans in Chamdho must display photographs of top Chinese leaders in their house  with a Tibetan traditional white scarf as a symbol of respect. Monasteries in the region have also been forced to fly the Chinese national flag.

Dalai Lama wants to meet ailing Nelson Mandela

10:50, 3 July, 2013

YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama wants to pay his respects to his ailing friend and former South African president Nelson Mandela. As reports Armenpress referring to Dna, the spiritual leader last week expressed concern over the deteriorating health of Mandela, saying "everybody is praying now".

"His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) is keen to pay respects to his long-time friend Nelson Mandela, provided it doesn't cause any inconvenience to anyone, individuals or the government there," an aide of the Dalai Lama told IANS.

"If South Africa is comfortable with his visit, he would be happy to meet personally Mandela's family members," he added.

The 94-year-old Mandela has been hospitalised in Pretoria for the past three weeks for a recurring lung infection.

Last time the Dalai Lama met Mandela was Nov 5, 2004 in Johannesburg, according to a post on Dalai Lama's official website.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959.

 

China seen likely to resume contact with Dalai Lama under Xi

Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) Former Deputy Defense Minister Lin Chong-pin said Sunday that China is likely to resume contact with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama under the leadership of China's president-in-waiting Xi Jinping.

Lin said at a regional peace forum that once Xi stabilizes the situation in China and deals with the domestic and foreign issues, he may resume contact with the Dalai Lama or engage in dialogue with Tibet.

Xi is scheduled to take over from President Hu Jintao in March.

Lin noted that Xi's father Xi Zhongxun, China's late vice premier, was on friendly terms with the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, who is next in rank after the Dalai Lama.

After the Tibetan leader went into exile, Xi Zhongxun publicly displayed a watch given to him by the Dalai Lama, Lin said, adding that Xi's wife Peng Liyuan is a Buddhist.

Lin said that despite China's adherence to atheism, billions of Chinese are religious followers and some former Chinese leaders also held religious beliefs.

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin was known to recite Buddhist scriptures, according to Master Hsing Yun, founder of the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan.

(By Scarlett Chai and Ann Chen)
ENDITEM /pc

China should recognise Dalai Lama as religious leader

The Archbishop of York has asked the Government to raise with China the recognition of the Dalai Lama as a religious leader.

In a debate in the House of Lords on Tibet, Dr John Sentamu noted that the Dalai Lama was not only a spiritual and religious leader for the people of Tibet, but recognised the world over.

"Will the Government nevertheless impress upon the Chinese Government that they should recognise and respect the Dalai Lama as a religious leader and not as a political leader?

"If they did that, it is possible that they would then have a dialogue," he said.

A similar suggestion was made by Lord Steel of Aikwood, who said that dialogue between the Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader could bring an end to dozens of self-immolations by pro-Tibet protesters.

Baroness Warsi, Senior Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, said the UK Government was "deeply concerned" about the high number of self-immolations in Tibet and that its concerns were being raised "regularly" with the Chinese authorities.

She said Tibet had been discussed in the last round of the annual UK-China human rights dialogue in January 2012, although she was unable to confirm whether the Government had raised the suggestion of China recognising the Dalai Lama as a religious leader.

Baroness Warsi said the UK Government was concerned about the "lack of meaningful dialogue" with Tibet to address the underlying grievances in a "clearly worsening situation".

"We continue to encourage all parties to work for a resumption of substantive dialogue as a means to address the Tibetan concerns and to relieve tensions," she said.

"Of course, we continue to make the case to China that any economic progress can be sustained only if there is social progress as well."

The 100th Self-Immolation in Tibet- A case for the world to answer

                                                         PRESS RELEASE
14 February 2013

“Dignity is the spirit of a nationality…,” wrote the 42-year-old monk Sopa Rinpoche before his self-immolation on January 8, 2012. Since the first such action by Tapey on February 8, 2009, 100 Tibetans have burnt themselves. This has taken place, despite the recent harsh and unlawful sentencing of 8 Tibetans and arrest of family members, for allegedly instigating Tibetans to self-immolation.

All of them have called for the collective restoration of Tibetan dignity: Return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to Tibet and freedom for Tibet.

Latest reports coming out of Tibet say Lobsang Namgyal, a 37-year-old monk of Kirti Monastery died after setting himself on fire in Ngaba, north-eastern Tibet, on 3 February 2013. Though the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) continues to repeatedly appeal to the Tibetans in Tibet to refrain from such drastic acts, sadly the self-immolations continue.

The ongoing and unprecedented self-immolations by an increasing number of Tibetans in Tibet are the ultimate acts of civil disobedience against China’s failed rule in Tibet. Instead of owning the onus of tragedy in Tibet – a self evident responsibility of its over 60 years of continuous iron-grip rule in Tibet – China relentlessly and irresponsibly accuses His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan leadership of inciting these self-immolations.

To unveil the truth of the matter in Tibet, we have called on China to provide unfettered access to Tibet for the global media, diplomats and international NGOs. On our part, we have repeatedly invited China to Dharamshala, India, the headquarters of CTA, to investigate our alleged role in the self-immolations. We have pledged full co-operation and unhindered access to our offices.

The CTA, therefore, calls on the national governments and international agencies, including the United Nations, to use their good offices and actively engage with China to stop the deteriorating situation in Tibet by addressing the genuine grievances of the Tibetans. Concrete steps for the leaders of the world need to take immediately are to send Ms Navi Pillay of UNHCR to visit Tibet and investigate the real causes of self immolations, and convene a meeting to discuss and address the crisis in Tibet. It would go a long way not only to encourage the Tibetans in their effort to embrace democracy and non-violence but also to be a catalyst for a moderate China.

Dr. Lobsang Sangay
Sikyong of the Tibetan Administration based in India

Breaking: Tibet continues to burn, Father of three passes away

DHARAMSHALA, February 15: A Tibetan father of three set himself on fire in Amchok region of eastern Tibet on February 13, a day observed by Tibetans as the centenary celebrations of His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama’s Proclamation of Tibetan Independence.

Drugpa Khar, 26, set himself on fire in Amchok town in Sangchu region of Kanlho at around 1 pm (local time). He reportedly succumbed to his injuries.

No further details are available about the protest at the time of filing this report.

The self-immolation comes weeks after a court in the region sentenced six Tibetans to lengthy jail terms of up to 12 years for rescuing the body of Tibetan self-immolator, Dorjee Rinchen, 57, from falling into the hands of Chinese authorities last October.

With Drugpa Khar’s fiery protest, the total number of known self-immolations by Tibetans living under China’s rule has now reached 101. The self-immolators have called for Tibet’s freedom and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

According to exile sources, Drugpa Khar is survived by his parents Tamding Tsering and Tamding Tso. His youngest child is one year old and the eldest is aged six.

On February 13, another Tibetan self-immolated in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu protesting China’s continued occupation of Tibet. With 96 per cent burns, the Tibetan monk succumbed to his injuries later that day.

As the number of Tibet self-immolations breached the 100 mark, the International Tibet Network, a global movement of 185 Tibet advocacy organisations, urgently called for “more visible coordination of action” by world governments.

The Network, in a release, accused Chinese authorities of responding to the self-immolation protests with “an even greater crackdown, thereby increasing the chances that more Tibetans will self-immolate.”

"This staggering figure of 100 individual self-immolation protests must bring the world to its senses. This milestone demands widespread condemnation of China's failed policies and of its brutal crackdown in Tibet," said Tenzin Jigme, International Coordinator of the Network. "Each one of these incidents is a personal tragedy, but the combined total of 100 people setting light to themselves in protest warrants an international response. We urgently call on world governments to issue a joint statement of concern on this tragic occasion and to collectively formulate a diplomatic initiative that will directly address China's leaders over the crisis they have created in Tibet."

In a statement released yesterday, Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people noted that the ongoing and unprecedented self-immolations by an increasing number of Tibetans in Tibet are the “ultimate acts of civil disobedience against China’s failed rule in Tibet.”

“Concrete steps that the leaders of the world need to take immediately are to send Ms Navi Pillay of UNHCR on a visit to Tibet and investigate the real causes of self immolations, and convene a meeting to discuss and address the crisis in Tibet,” Sikyong Sangay added.