The Hindu : Front Page : Dalai Lama allays China’s fears on Olympic torch

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Dalai Lama allays China’s fears on Olympic torch

“China deserves to host the games as it is the most populous nation”

Photo: R.V. Moorthy

PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and other religious leaders paying homage at the Mahatma Gandhi samadhi during a public inter-faith prayer meeting for those who lost their lives in Tibet, at Rajghat in New Delhi on Saturday.

New Delhi: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Saturday sought to allay China’s fears that Tibetans might cause trouble when the Olympic torch came to India, suggesting that he favoured safe relay of the flame.

“I have said they [China] deserve to host the famous games as it is the most populous nation of the world. My position is the same despite the suppression in Tibet,” he told a press conference here.

“The Olympic torch is part of the games and my attitude towards it is the same,” the Dalai Lama said.

The Chinese Embassy has conveyed its concern to India, with a warning that the leg of the torch relay could be skipped if foolproof security was not assured in the country.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan met Home Minister Shivraj Patil in this context two days back.

Beijing’s concerns were heightened after a group of Tibetans stormed its Embassy on March 21, breaching the security cordon around the Mission.

India has promised to make proper security arrangements during the torch’s run here.

Ready for talks

As Beijing continues to batter him with charges of “masterminding” the Lhasa unrest, the Dalai Lama suggested that China itself could be behind the violence and expressed readiness to work with the Chinese authorities to restore peace in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, who has been seeking dialogue to resolve Tibet issue, voiced frustration at the lack of response from China and declared that the future of his ‘middle-path’ approach would depend on Beijing’s attitude in the next few weeks.

He sought the help of the international community to bring China to the dialogue table, saying the Tibetans had “no power” to do so.

“Tibetans are non-violent people,” the spiritual leader maintained, rubbishing allegations by China that he and his supporters were behind the recent violence in Tibet.

He suggested that China itself could be behind the violence as he said “we have heard about a few hundred Chinese soldiers received monks’ dress.”

“They [soldiers] dressed like monks. So, for a lay person, they will look like monks. But the swords they had, were not Tibetan, they were Chinese swords,” he said, apparently responding to China’s campaign that monks had indulged in violence.

Maintaining that he has “no desire to seek Tibet’s separation” nor “any wish to drive a wedge between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples,” the Dalai Lama expressed willingness to work with the Chinese authorities to “bring about peace and stability in Tibet.” — PTI

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