‘Dalai Lama will remain religious, temporal head’

DHARAMSALA - Expressing full faith in his leadership, the Tibetan government-in-exile based here Friday again reiterated that the Dalai Lama would remain the Tibetans’ religious and temporal head.

“The Kashag (cabinet) would like to offer the wholehearted prayers of Tibetans, beseeching His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) to remain as ever the religious and temporal leader of Tibet,” a statement said here on the 21st anniversary of conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on the Dalai Lama.

“From the depth of our hearts, we request you never to consider or even talk about semi-retirement and full retirement,” it said.

The statement came a few days after the Nobel laureate indicated he would quit public life and hand over most of his political powers to the prime minister-in-exile.

Supporting his non-violence approach towards the cause of Tibet, the Kashag said: “The Dalai Lama has guided the Tibetan struggle for justice onto the path of non-violence, making it different from other national struggles in the world. He has also shown that all global conflicts can be solved through a non-violent approach.”

The Dalai Lama, 75, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 in recognition of his struggle for the liberation of Tibet through peaceful solutions.

The Buddhist leader fled to India in 1959 as China crushed an uprising in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, also a recipient of the US Congressional Gold Medal, is viewed by Beijing as a leader of Tibetan separatists.