New Delhi, Sunday, November 23 – India has said there is no change in its policy towards the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who runs a government in exile in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. He now seeks greater autonomy for the Himalayan region.
“We have consistently taken a position on Tibet which has been reiterated. We have a position on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. There is no change in that position on our side and that is a position which is well understood in China,” said External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha.
“So I would say that the narrowing of differences took place in the sense that there was better understanding and appreciation of the position that we have taken,” added Sinha.
The Dalai Lama fled to India from Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
Recently some Tibetan groups had raised concerns that India had altered its policy towards the spiritual leader following an agreement signed between India and China.
The agreement signed during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Beijing visit in June says that New Delhi explicitly recognized Tibet as part of China. China has long resented India’s decision to give the shelter to the Dalai Lama.
Nuclear-armed China and India fought a brief border war in 1962 and despite a thaw in relations, and years of talks, have failed to pin down exactly where their 3,500 km (2,175 mile) border lies.
Ties between the two have improved dramatically with both the nations conducting a joint-naval exercise recently.
