DHARAMSHALA, August 9: On his second day in the office, Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay was today accorded a warm reception by an impressive delegation of international friends and supporters at a public ceremony in the exile seat of Dharamshala, north India.
The ceremony attended by school children and local Tibetan population began with Dr Sangay unfurling the Tibetan national flag for the first time as Kalon Tripa.
Travelling for long distances, members of parliaments from Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia, Nepal, the European Parliament, Italy and representatives of various Tibet Support Groups from around the world gathered to felicitate the 43-year old Tibetan leader.
United in their support for the Tibetan movement, the speakers congratulated Dr Sangay on his new role and promised of their continued cooperation and assistance to his administration.
Dr Yang Jianli, a Chinese dissident and democracy activist said that he was “honoured and humbled” in leading a Chinese delegation to Dharamshala to take part in the celebrations of Tibetan democracy.
“I am honoured because I am with you whose extraordinary struggle for freedom and the advancement of democracy has won worldwide respect. I am humbled because your suffering has been at the hand of a government that is largely made of Han Chinese, an ethnicity of which I am a member,” Dr Jianli said.
Congratulating the Tibetan people for their “achievements in democracy and struggle for freedom”, Dr Jianli said that Tibetans were a “beacon of hope to many people, including Han Chinese under the rule of the communist regime.”
Speaking on behalf of the host country, Dr N.K. Trikha, National Convener of the Core Group for the Tibet Cause in India assured that “Indians will do everything” to restore “honor and dignity” to the Tibetan people.
“Tibet is in the hearts and minds of India,” the longtime friend of Tibet said.
Addressing Dr Sangay as “Dear Prime Minister”, Lech Walesa, former President of the Republic of Poland and Nobel Peace Laureate in a congratulatory note likened the ongoing Tibetan movement to the years when the Poles were forced to form an exile government in London.
“I believe that as Poles managed in 1989, that Tibetans will manage in the future to break the wall, which divides them from freedom,” Lech Walesa wrote.
One of US Congress’s most influential voices, Senator Joseph Lieberman in his congratulatory message expressed optimism that the Tibetan struggle will “thrive in the years ahead” with the “Kalon Tripa’s political leadership and the spiritual wisdom and leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”
“I offer warm wishes to the people of Tibet – both those living in Tibet and those in exile – as you celebrate this historic event,” Senator Lieberman said.
Sitting member of the British Parliament, Fabian Hamilton while congratulating Dr Sangay said that he was looking forward to meeting the new Kalon Tripa in the UK in the near future.
“I would like to extend a formal invitation for you to meet the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet when you are in the UK. Working with Tibet Society, we would also do everything possible to arrange a meeting with the Foreign Minister, Foreign Office officials and MPs during your time in the UK,” Hamilton wrote.
