New Delhi (Mizzima) – Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama urged Burmese pro-democracy activists to continue their struggle for democracy through non-violent means. He said the struggle for the Burmese and the Tibetan people were both hard and arduous.
The message was conveyed on Friday during a 10-minute meeting as he received visiting Burmese pro-democracy activists in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the exiled Tibetan government.Regional Tibetan Youth Congress chairman Tenzin Tsundue told Mizzima that the Dalai Lama said he had communication with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Groups including Tibetan youth, women’s organizations and Tibetan NGOs invited 34 Burmese pro-democracy activists to visit the Tibetan Parliament on Thursday morning. They were received by Prime Minister Dr. Lobsang Sangay, a spokesperson at the Burma Centre Delhi (BCD) told Mizzima. During the study tour, members will visit Tibetan NGOs, schools and monasteries.
On Friday morning, a documentary video film, “The Longest Ongoing War,” jointly produced by Mizzima and Al Jazeera will be screened for a Tibetan audience.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army occupied the Tibetan plateau in 1950. It was annexed as a special autonomous region and became an integral part of mainland China. In an uprising in 1959 in Lhasa, Tibetans rose up against the Chinese occupation forces and the Dalai Lama fled to India, followed by about 80,000 refugees. Today, there are about 150,000 Tibetans living in exile. About 100,000 reside in India.
