Dalai Lama to deliver address on 1959 uprising anniversary
By IANSSunday, March 7, 2010
DHARAMSALA - Hundreds of Tibetan exiles will assemble in this Himachal hill town to hear their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lamas address March 10, on the 51st anniversary of a failed rebellion against Chinese rule, an aide said here Monday.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama will deliver a special address March 10, which is commemorated as the Tibetan peoples peaceful uprising against the repression and occupation of Tibet by the Peoples Republic of China on this day in 1959,” the government-in-exile’s spokesman Thubten Samphel told IANS.
All members of the Tibetan parliament in exile would attend the address.
“Kalon Tripa (prime minister-in-exile) Samdong Rinpoche and Speaker of Tibetan parliament Penpa Tsering will also address the gathering,” Samphel said.
Every year, the exiles worldwide remember the day when the Chinese launched a crackdown to suppress an uprising in Tibet. In 2008, bloody riots broke out in Lhasa following peaceful protests marking the uprising.
The Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a separatist, fled into exile in 1959 and established his government-in-exile at McLeodganj, near here. It is not recognised by any country.
The Dalai Lama, 74, has been following a “middle-path policy that demands greater autonomy for Tibetans, rather than complete independence.
Around 140,000 Tibetans now live in exile, most of them in India.
