By MANJEET SEHGAL WARRIOR
Shimla, April 17 – The security breach at the Indian Institute of Science during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit is a signal to the Dalai Lama that Tibetan youths are against his “middle way approach” towards China.
Tibetan Youth Congress vice-president Lobsang Yeshi has said the point of the protest was “to send a clear message to the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile that the younger generation is not pleased with the Tibet policy being pursued by him”.
Friends of Tibet general secretary Tenzing Tsundue had climbed a 200-ft tower of the IISc during Wen’s interaction with scientists and shouted anti-China slogans.
The policy followed by the Dalai Lama — which Tibetan dissenters term the China “appeasement” policy — derives from a resolution passed by the Tibetan government-in-exile in March 10, 2004.
“The Tibetan administration would like to appeal to all Tibetan organisations to support the middle way approach and work towards creating an atmosphere conducive for dialogue,” the resolution says.
“We, at the moment, are committed to the middle way policy for resolving the Tibetan issue through non-violence. When we initiate any activity for the cause of Tibet, it is very important that our actions do not go against the very policy and approach we’re committed to,” the resolution read.
Yeshi said the Dalai Lama “is our spiritual leader and we are his followers”, but the Tibetan Youth Congress looked at China from a “different” angle.
‘Tibetan youth living in exile will continue to struggle for the independence of Tibet, instead of accepting the more diluted middle way approach of the Dalai Lama,” he said.
“Our moves will neither harm the policy of the Tibetan administration nor hurt the Indian government.”
Asked if the protests would not be seen as open defiance of the Dalai Lama, Yeshi said the Tibetans were a democratic people and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the objective of the Tibetan Youth Congress was to emancipate Tibet from China.
The Tibetan Youth Congress is headquartered in Dharamsala and has over 30,000 members in India.
