DHARAMSHALA, January 22: A Tibetan parliamentary delegation currently on a lobbying campaign in south India for international intervention in the ongoing crisis in Tibet wrapped up its efforts in Pondicherry after meeting prominent local leaders and scholars.
The south zone Tibetan Parliamentary delegation met with the Honourable Speaker of Pondicherry House, Thiru R. Radhakrishnan at the Secretariat on Saturday and apprised him on the series of self-immolation protests and the critical situation inside Tibet.
According to Lobsang Yeshi, Tibetan MP and member of the delegation, the honorable Speaker accorded them a warm reception and assured his support for the Tibetan cause.
The six-member Tibetan delegation, along with Thiru. N.G. Pannirselvam, Minister of Local Administration and Rural Development, on Friday attended a ‘Youth Awareness Programme’ organised by the India Tibet Friendship Society of Pondicherry.
The event, held to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda and to extend solidarity with Tibet, was attended by over 200 Indian students and youth activists and local Tibetans.
In his address, the honourable minister expressed his “deep appreciation” to Tibetans for their “untiring freedom struggle” and noted that Indian and Tibetan “brothers and sisters” are together in Tibet’s freedom struggle.
Speaking to the young Indian audience, he further emphasised: “Our youths should learn more about the Tibetan struggle and work for its freedom”.
The Tibetan MPs also attended a talk at the Tibet Pavilion in Auroville, the international community of peace and human progress, organised by Tibet supporter and scholar, Claude Arpi. Over 60 people, comprising of writers, scholars, social activists, and students from 15 countries attended the talk, Yeshi said.
The south zone Tibetan parliamentary delegation, after holding a series of high-level meetings with top leaders of the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Pondicherry, are currently in Tamil Nadu on the last leg of their south India campaign.
The Dharamshala based Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile initiated the month long all-India lobbying campaign as part of the exile Tibetan administration’s attempts at garnering wider support for international intervention in the ongoing crisis inside Tibet.
Three parliamentary delegations are currently lobbying in different parts of India and raising awareness on the critical situation in Tibet heralded by the 98 known cases of self-immolations in Tibet since 2009. The self-immolators have demanded freedom and the return of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
