Reportage – 2001

Youth will continue Tibetan struggle: Dalai Lama

DHARAMSHALA, India, 20 Nov 2001 (AFP)

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday that he was confident that his non-violent fight for the cause of his native Tibet will be continued by younger generations.

The 65-year-old spiritual leader, who fled to India when China crushed an anti-Beijing uprising in Tibet in 1959, said China's attempts to destroy Tibetan culture would not succeed.

"The Tibetan struggle is not about one person's struggle. It is about an indominatable race," said the Dalai Lama at a function to mark the 60th anniversary of his enthronement as Tibet's god king.

"The older generations may pass away with time but I am confident the next generation will take up the cause," he added.

"It has been over 40 years since we were forced into exile. Throughout that time I have preached a non-violent approach to solving our problems."

The function was attended by heads of all four sects of Tibetan Buddhism.

The teenaged Karmapa Lama, one of the highest ranking figures in Tibetan Buddhism, who has given his full backing to the Tibetan freedom movement led by the Dalai Lama was also present.

The Dalai Lama also said he was happy with the work done by the Tibetan residential schools run by his exiled administration in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala.

"The schools are doing good work. It is important to preserve our culture for our identity. It is also important to further develop and reach up to modern times," said the Dalai Lama.

Meanwhile, Wangchuk Tsering, a representative of the Dalai Lama, in Kathmandu in Nepal told a gathering of the Tibetan Refugees Community in Kathmandu that they were marking the event even though they could not celebrate it in Tibet.

"We are celebrating this important occasion of our spiritual leader's 60th enthronement and also the 50th anniversary of his assumption of state responsibility all over the world," he said.

India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans, who followed the Dalai Lama after his 1959 escape from Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Beijing has ruled its Himalayan region with an iron fist since the uprising, with human rights groups alleging widespread abuses and a systematic campaign to crush Tibetan culture.