Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration Lobsang Sangay speak to the media after raising Indian flag to celebrate the 143rd birth anniversay of Mahatma Gandhi, in Dharamshala, India, on 2 October 2012. File photo/Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal
IANS
NEW DELHI, India, 5 October 2012
The issue of Tibet should be “on the table” during talks between India and China, Tibetan political leader Lobsang Sangay said here Friday.
“I believe Tibet should be on the table as a foreign issue,” Sangay told the media at the Dalai Lama’s bureau.
A total of 52 Tibetans have immolated themselves in Tibet in the last one and a half years, said Sangay.
“The situation in Tibet is tragic… Under the repressive policies of the Chinese government, there is no freedom of speech,” he said, adding that even shouting slogans could land people in jail.
He said the Tibetan-government-in-exile, based in Dharamshala in India, had appealed to Tibetans not to immolate themselves.
“We support the aspirations of the Tibetan people for the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet and freedom of Tibet,” said Sangay.
Explaining why India and China should discuss Tibet, Sangay said the Sutlej and Brahmaputra rivers flowed from Tibet downstream into India.
But with China building 20 dams on each river and even trying to reverse their flow, to make them flow upstream, it would harm the interests of India, he said.
“Due to deforestation and silting in Tibet, it is causing floods downstream. The Tibetan glaciers are melting at an alarming rate,” said Sangay, who in August completed a year as the Tibetan government-in-exile’s top political leader.
“The future of the Tibetan Plateau is vital for India as well.”
He said China had built five major air fields in Tibet and was building another one.
“China has 23 military divisions in Tibet… The railway line from Beijing to Lhasa has extended further and will soon come to Nepal and (towards) Sikkim,” he said.
“We are ready to engage in a dialogue with China anytime, anywhere,” said Sangay.
He said he had met Chinese journalists and scholars in Dharamshala several times for exchange of views.
He thanked India and its people for “hosting and supporting us all these years”.
“I do believe that India should be the model. Asian countries should look at India on how best to address the magic of unity in diversity,” said the Delhi and Harvard educated Sangay.
The Dalai Lama has lived in India since 1959. His government-in-exile is not recognised by any country. Some 140,000 Tibetans live in exile around the world, over 100,000 of them in India.
To comment anything with regards to our Kalon Tripa’s policies is yet too soon. What I would like to share here is that, he joined Tibetan politics with best of intentions for the future of Tibet and the Tibetans.
He, Dr. Lobsang Sangay, our Kalon Tripa, is everything that His Holiness envisioned in His first speech to us, the new arrivals to Mussoorie (CST) in 1960. His Holiness: khyi rang tso chinchay bhod kyi tson-tsa ray-dha, lobjhung yakpo jhi sho aah. If we trust our Kalon and lend our strongest support in this common struggle, I have no doubts that he will work very hard, for he has a promise to fulfill to His Holiness, aching hearts of our brothers and sisters to soothe in Tibet, and responsibility to lead us to reach and achieve our goal.
Right now is the time to support him and lend him all the moral encouragement there is. It is the time for us to stand up side by side with him, and leave no room for our enemies to try to break his spirit down. Our love and sincere support to our beloved Kalon Tripa will boost his courage and strength to do more for Tibet and us. Those of you who are at par level (in academic fields of any kind) with him should not stoop to jealousy and negativity. But stand tall side by side with our Kalon Tripa and prove your strength and show your Tibetaness to the enemy. This is my prayer.