Author: Pranab Dhal Samanta
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: March 21, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/286988.html
Introduction: Attack on world's conscience,
says Pelosi; thanks PM for giving Dalai Lama 'safe harbour'
Days after Beijing officially blamed the Dalai
Lama and his "clique" for inciting violence in Tibet, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh is said to have conveyed to visiting US Speaker of the House
of Representatives Nancy Pelosi today that India regarded the Dalai Lama as
a "personification of non-violence."
Pelosi, who is the third-ranking official
in the US government after the President and the Vice-President, today met
the PM ahead of her departure to Dharamshala to meet the Dalai Lama.
She also had meetings with External Affairs
Minister Pranab Mukherjee and key parliamentarians.
Having played the lead role in awarding the
Dalai Lama the Congressional Medal of Honour last November, Pelosi's visit
is being looked at as a strong signal to China though she claimed that the
trip was planned even before the violence started. "It's a 21-year-old
invitation," she said after her meetings today.
However, she continues to take strong exception
to the violence in Tibet and even discussed this with Singh. In a statement
last week in Washington, Pelosi said: "The violent response by Chinese
police forces to peaceful protestors in Tibet is disgraceful...the Chinese
government should immediately provide information the welfare and whereabouts
of the detained Buddhist monks...there is disturbing new evidence of a pre-Olympic
crackdown on religious leaders, journalists and lawyers in recent months.
The Olympic Games in Beijing this summer should provide an opportunity for
more free expression, not less."
Echoing this today, she conveyed to the PM
that she saw the violence in Tibet as an "attack on the conscience of
the world" and that it was important to uphold the "path of non-violence".
She is also said to have thanked the Prime
Minister for India's role in the whole issue and providing "safe harbour"
to the Dalai Lama for almost five decades.
Singh, in turn, told her that the Dalai Lama
was free to live in India for as long as he wanted but the Tibetan community
would have to live in accordance with Indian laws.
Pelosi recalled the impact Mahatma Gandhi
had on the civil rights movement in the US just as his principles today impact
the Dalai Lama and his efforts for a truly autonomous Tibet.
It may be noted that India has already expressed
its "distress" on the situation in Tibet and called all involved
to "remove the cause of such trouble in Tibet, which is an autonomous
region of China, through dialogue and non-violent means".
At the same, India has also made it clear
that Tibetans in India are "guests" but they should "refrain
from political activities and those activities that affect our relations with
other friendly countries." Pelosi, a Democrat herself, is accompanied
by a Congressional delegation largely comprising fellow Democrats and one
Republican. The delegation will be in Dharamshala tomorrow to show solidarity
with the Dalai Lama and call for an end to the violence in Tibet.
