Tibetan exiles upset at Canadian PM’s reluctance to see Dalai Lama

DHARAMSALA, India, April 10 – Tibetan exiles have called on Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to meet the Dalai Lama on his upcoming visit to Ottawa, accusing the Canadian leader of bowing to pressure from China.

The Ottawa government has said it is unlikely Martin will meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader who will tour Canada from April 19 to May 5.

“It is due to pressure from China over trade that Paul Martin is not meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” said Pema Jungney, the speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile based in the Indian hill station Dharamsala.

He noted there had been widespread calls in Canada for Martin to meet the Dalai Lama, including from leading lawmakers.

“Paul Martin is foresaking the sovereignty of Canada before Chinese pressure,” Jungney said.

However, the Dalai Lama’s spokesman Tenzin Taklha refrained from criticising Martin.

“Wherever His Holiness the Dalai Lama visits, he doesn’t want to cause inconvenience to anybody,” Taklha said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham told parliament March 25 it was unlikely Martin would meet the Dalai Lama but said Ottawa nonetheless had “a great deal of respect for His Holiness as a Nobel Prize winner.”

China, which accuses the Dalai Lama of separatism, regularly protests his meetings with world leaders, including his talks in September with US President George W. Bush at the White House.

The Dalai Lama denies Beijing’s charges, saying he wants Tibetan autonomy within China to be achieved peacefully.

The Tibetan leader has lived in exile since 1959 when Chinese troops crushed an abortive uprising in Lhasa against Beijing’s rule.

The Dalai Lama, 68, is due to stop in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver giving a number of public talks. He will also visit Los Angeles from April 12 to 16.

From April 24 to May 6, he is scheduled to lead a Kalachakra, a Buddhist meditation ritual, in Toronto.