Dharamsala, November 4 – Members of the Washington based International Campaign for Tibet, a private advocacy group for Tibet, are in town to call on the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and meet Tibetan government officials. “We are here to meet His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, to discuss ways where the International Campaign for Tibet can be supportive of their work,” Marybeth Markey, president of ICT told media persons.
The group on Tuesday called on the Tibetan leader at the latter’s residence here in the premises of the Theckchen Choeling temple. They on Monday met with the officials and ministers if the exile Tibetan government including the prime minister Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, and Gyari Dolma, the deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament in exile. A special evening of cultural program was arranged at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts on Monday.
“They have come here to see His Holiness and also meet with people to review their work and to strategise in future how and what kind of campaigning they should do, so for this consultation they have paid the visit. It was actually to coincide with International Tibetan Support Group conference which is going to be held in Haryana from tomorrow,” Rinpoche told ANI.
This is the first formal visit by the ICT board of directors to hilltown headquarters of the Tibetan government. Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Lodi Gyari is also accompanying the group.
Founded in 1988, ICT is the world”s largest Tibet-related non-profit group, with a total membership of over 400,000 as of 2007.
