Alkesh Sharma
The Times of India
September 28, 2012
Tibetans living in exile in India have demanded Indian citizenship and the right to vote and also contest elections, which they feel, will strengthen their fight for Tibet. They have also demanded that their spiritual leader Dalai Lama be allowed to speak in Parliament on the lines of the UN and the US and Japanese Parliaments.
While these demands were raised on Thursday during a convention here, they would be passed as resolutions on Friday, the last day of the meet. The meet, to discuss the issue of rising cases of self-immolations among Tibetans to protest Chinese oppression, has over 400 Tibetans participating from across the world.
It was decided in the meeting on Thursday that these issues will be taken up with the government of India. Tibetans living in India, who have the status of “foreigners”, have till now been demanding refugee status.
“Once we get voting rights, we can strongly lobby with the Indian government to take up the Tibet issue with China. We want Indian citizenship just like the US and Switzerland provides citizenship in their country. We will be taken seriously by political parties and the ruling government only when we become vote banks,” said Sonam Dorjee, member of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), an umbrella body that encompasses even the Tibetan government-in-exile that operates from here.
Delegates have also suggested creating a quota for Tibetan youth in government jobs and in various educational institutes in India.
Those attending the meeting appealed to the Dalai Lama on Thursday to visit Tibet in the wake of a spurt in self-immolations by Tibetans in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet. There have been over 50 cases of self-immolation since 2009.
Dalai Lama, along with his supporters, had left Tibet and taken refuge in India in 1959 following Chinese occupation.
A delegation member, requesting not to be named, told TOI, “Over 300 Tibetans, who are staying in Tibet, have sent their secret messages through various forums for the delegates. Many of them have expressed the desire that Dalai Lama should return to his homeland. They expressed that it was necessary to control self-immolations that is going on to protest against Chinese repression.”
Earlier, Dalai lama had expressed willingness to visit earthquake-hit areas in Tibet in 2010 but Beijing had turned down his request.
Dalai Lama, who had officially renounced his political powers on May 30, 2011, is not attending this meeting. But he would attend a long life prayer service to be offered by the Tibetan Parliament to him on Friday morning at the main temple.
