NEW DELHI (dpa) – “Long live the Dalai Lama,” shouted thousands of diaspora Tibetans during their demonstrations in India hailing the leader who remains the symbol of their identity even 42 years after the flight from his homeland.
For the Chinese who have occupied the homeland of Tibet’s top Buddhist leader, he is their worst enemy and at the same time a guarantee of non-violence in the Tibetan resistance.The dream of a free Tibet survives even among the younger generation of the exiles. “Of course. I would immediately go to Tibet if China withdraws from it,” said Tsering, a student.“I will work as a teacher there,” said the 22-year-old girl who was born in India. She knows Tibet only from her parents’ stories.But the youngsters have been getting impatient over the years. From refugees they have first hand reports of violence and oppression in Tibet, and from Indian media they know that China has not been responding to the Dalai Lama’s suggestions of compromise.The Dalai Lama senses the mood. “When we see the situation in Tibet we have reason for frustration and despair,” he said.For years, young Tibetans have been complaining that non-violence has brought nothing. “Only violent opposition will be taken note of,” said participants in a protest hunger strike in India a year ago. At the end of the strike a Tibetan doused himself in petrol and set himself alight.“We are committed to undertake similar movements in the near future,” said Pema Lhundup of the Tibetan Youth Congress.But the TYC leader differed with Dalai Lama on the solution to the Tibetan problem. The Dalai Lama said in a statement to mark the 40th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in March that a resolution of the Tibetan conflict was possible without the territory’s secession from China.“The majority of the Tibetan people want independence. For a temporary solution to the Tibetan issue His Holiness (Dalai Lama) has called on China with his new approach,” Lhundup said.But still the young Tibetans are behind the 65-year-old Dalai Lama and respect his decisions. Therefore many commentators feel that the Chinese leadership should not wait for the post-Dalai Lama period and instead must seek a peaceful solution with him.The Dalai Lama hopes for help from all over the world. “There is room for optimism. In the past few years, the support for our just cause has gone up,” he said.The young men in the protest marches would like to have more of it. “Many are raising the human rights question but nobody seems to raise the question of Tibetan independence,” said a student.“Unless we have forceful action, there will be no chance to get the Tibetan issue at an international level,” said Pema Lhundup.
