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Dalai Lama urges Maoists to shun violence

IANS

Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama interacts with media upon his arrival at Biju Patnaik air port in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, on 11 January 2010. The Dalai Lama is on his way to Chandragiri Tibetan settlement in the state for a four-day visit.Orissa Diary/Ashok Panda/India

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Monday urged Maoists to shun violence and stressed that solutions to problems could not be reached through violent means.

“As I have mentioned earlier, violence is not a proper method to find a solution to a problem. Finding a solution though violence is always wrong. Of course I agree that there are still some people who are deprived and poor. There is still exploitation. But violence is not the solution to that,” the Dalai Lama told reporters at the airport here.

Before proceeding to Gajapati district, one of the violence-hit districts of Orissa, the spiritual leader said that Maoists should leave the path of violence and repose faith in the age-old Indian tradition of ahinsa (non-violence).

“Non-violence is the only solution to the problems…We must find solution to problems through ahinsa, through dialogue and mutual respect…through the non-violent way,” he said.

Suspected Maoist guerrillas killed two local traders in a village in Koraput district early on Monday, ahead of the Dalai Lama’s visit.

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Published in Hindustan Times