By Tendar Tsering
DHARAMSALA September 23: The South African government, which has come under criticism lately for not responding to the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama’s visa application, has said that the latter’s application was “incomplete”.
The Department of International Relations and Co-operation told the press Thursday that the Dalai Lama’s office in Delhi had submitted “incomplete visa application”.
“It was not a complete application. The passport was submitted only on [Tuesday] September 20. Only then had the normal visa application process been set in motion,” said Clayson Monyela, the spokesman of the department.
However, the representative of the Tibetan spiritual leader in New Delhi denied Monyela’s claims saying that the visa application of the Tibetan leader was not incomplete. “When His Holiness is on an international tour it has been the usual practice to submit photocopies of the Tibetan leader’s passport to the embassies of the countries to which he is seeking visa,” said Tsering.
The office of the Dalai Lama’s representative in New Delhi had first tried to submit the application in June but was told to return in August.
On August 29, we submitted a copy of His Holiness’s passport as he was in US and later on September 20 upon his return from US to India, we submitted the original passport, the Dalai Lama’s representative in South Africa, Sonam Tenzing said.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu had invited the Dalai Lama to attend the celebrations of his 80th birthday next month and recently told reporters that the government will “shoot itself in the foot, if they deny a visa to the Dalai Lama to please key trade partner China.”
On August 2, Ronnie Manoepa, spokesman of the Home Ministry confirmed the receipt of the visa application saying his department needed to seek advice from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, signaling external pressure on the Tibetan leader’s visa issue.
South Africa denied visa for the Tibetan leader in 2009 when he was invited to attend a peace conference along with other Nobel laureates.
Nomfundo Walaza, CEO of the Desmond Tutu Peace Center told reporters that the visa delays were making life “extraordinarily difficult” for the organization.
“The center remains confident that sanity will prevail and His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be granted a visa. The Dalai Lama’s visit is timely and is an important venture for ensuring a peaceful world,” said Walaza.
Besides attending Tutu’s birthday celebrations, the Tibetan leader is to deliver the inaugural Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture and receive the Mahatma Gandhi Award for Reconciliation and Peace from the Mahatma Gandhi Trust, and also deliver a lecture at Stellenbosch University.
