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Dalai Lama to join global fast and prayers for Tibet on 30 August

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

LERAB LING TEMPLE ROQUEREDONDE, France, 22 August 2008—French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, centre, French Foreign Affair minister Bernard Kouchner, second right, and Human rights state secretary Rama Yade, right, attend the inauguration ceremony of the Lerab Ling temple by the Dalai Lama (unseen), in Roqueredonde, southern France, Friday, 22 August 2008.AP/Thibault Camus/France

“His Holiness will join the prayer and the fasting at Tsuglakhang temple in Mcleod Ganj,” the Dalai Lama’s secretary Chimme R. Choekyapa said.

The synchronized 12-hour campaign will be held from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m. local time at multiple areas around the world. The Tibetan Solidarity Committee — formed by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Parliament of the Tibetan government-in-exile — is organising the programme, which hopes to promote world peace and to bring an immediate end to the ongoing Chinese repression in Tibet.

Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche has directed the offices of representatives of Tibetan government-in-exile around the world to reach out to Tibetan people, Tibetan supporters including Chinese friends, and others to encourage them to join the event.

“We consider this as extremely important non-violent action taken by Tibetans under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a very critical period for Tibet, particularly in the post-Olympic period,” Rinpoche was quoted as saying.

Rinpoche had expressed fears about the future for Tibet, and sees the post-Olympics period as being “more dangerous than the present.”

The Dalai Lama has also expressed concern about Tibet in the aftermath of the Olympics. “He said that there was a risk … that immediately after the Games a million Chinese will settle in Tibet to further dilute the Tibetan population,” reports quoted him as saying.

The Dalai Lama, while on a 12-day tour of France, also said in a TV interview that he is committed to the middle-way policy for genuine autonomy for Tibet, and not seeking an independent Tibet, for Tibet’s own interest.

Copyright © 2008 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun