By Tsering Tashi (Office of Tibet, London)
LONDON – The 10-12 January visit to Poland of the London-based Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama also was reported by the main Polish newspaper, Gazeta Warszawa. Reporting on Representative Kesang Y. Takla’s meeting with the Polish Parliament Speaker Marek Jurek, the leading newspaper of Poland quoted her as saying, “I was touched by the compassion and understanding with which he expressed his support for the peaceful struggle of Tibetan people for the right to cultivate their culture and religion, as well as human rights”.
The newspaper further reported the head of the London Office of Tibet as saying, “It is moral obligation of the governments of democratic nations to support peaceful struggle of Tibetans to prove that there is an alternative for the violence. Sympathy of the Western governments is with Tibetans. It is high time that they communicate it to the Chinese leaders”.
Mrs. Takla, whose nomination as one of the Tibetan administration ministers was approved last September by the Tibetan parliament in exile, was in Poland at the invitation of the Polish Parliamentary Group for Tibet, which had made arrangements for her stay at the Parliament guesthouse in the capital Warsaw.
On 10 January, the Tibetan Minister (Kalon) and Representative opened the exhibition at the Polish parliament of photographs of Tibet taken by ardent Tibet supporter and journalist Ewa Kedzierska. The photo exhibition titled, “Tibet, My Love” was apparently not liked by the Chinese embassy for the publicity it was generating for the just Tibetan cause.
In a report on the day’s event Ms. Kedzierska writes, “The secretary of the Chinese embassy called Mrs. Beata Bublewicz, the chair of the Polish Parliamentary Group for Tibet in the morning, saying that the ‘Exhibition is unfriendly to China’ and requesting for taking off some of the comments under the photos, like those speaking about the ‘Chinese occupation’ or the ‘Black Day’ in reference with October 1”.
Several members of the Polish parliament also joined Mrs. Takla in taking part in the inaugural Tibet photo exhibition event. Among them was Parliamentarian Jaroslaw Walesa, the son of the former Polish President Lech Walesa, who along with other dignitaries at the function had their photos taken whilst holding the Tibetan flag.
The following day, Mrs. Takla had meetings with officials at the Polish Foreign Office and also met key members of supporting NGOs, including the Helsinki Foundation of Human Rights.
During her brief visit to Poland, Mrs. Takla also was invited to give a public talk on Tibet at the Warsaw University. She spoke about the current situation in Tibet and the efforts being made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile to resolve the issue of Tibet with China. Students as well as the local public attended the talk.
Her other engagements included a meeting with the small Tibetan community, who accorded her a warm welcome. She gave them a patient hearing and briefed them about the issues confronting the Tibetan people and encouraged the formation of a Tibetan Community body to enable them to better coordinate their activities and to meet more often. There are at the moment only about 20 Tibetans residing in Poland. Mrs. Takla also accepted the invitation to visit the local Tibetan Buddhist Centre and the Tibetan Medical Clinic run by a Tibetan monk doctor.
