Varanasi, January 24 – Dozens of Tibetan activists carried out a protest march on Thursday in Varanasi town urging the Chinese government to grant autonomy to Tibet. The protestors shouted slogans carrying placards which said, “Chinese stop human rights violation in Tibet.”
Addressing a press conference, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said their struggle was for autonomy within the Chinese constitution and not directed towards achieving independence. “My approach is giving Tibetans some satisfaction and through that way genuine stability and unity can be achieved, through that way genuine satisfactory economic development can take place. So it’s my offer… this is my help to achieve their ultimate goal. So if I ask independence or complete separation , that is against Chinese constitution. If I ask genuine and meaningful autonomy, that is written in the constitution,” he said.
The Nobel peace prize laureate said that if Tibet was granted autonomy with a certain degree of freedom, he would hand over all administrative powers to the elected body which is already functioning in exile.
“I have made it clear that as soon as we return with certain degree of freedom I will hand over all my legitimate authority to the Tibetan local government and that local government like our exile government is our authority… Leadeship should be elected one,” said Dalai Lama.
He added that if the Tibetan problem was solved, it would lead to preservation of Tibetan culture and usher in prosperity for all the Chinese people.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed 1959 revolt against Chinese rule. He was followed by more than 120,000 Tibetan refugees and settled in Dharmsala, where he heads a government in exile.
An estimated 134,000 Tibetans live in exile, the majority of them in India and Nepal.
