By IANS,
New Delhi : The Tibetan leader Dalai Lama’s official representative Tempa Tsering has slammed China’s accusation linking a Tibetan group with the Al Qaeda, saying it should not indulge in “such shocking propaganda” without any evidence.
“It is absolutely baseless. Tibetans are by nature non-violent and peaceful and have nothing to do with terrorism,” Tsering told IANS while reacting to a Chinese official’s description of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), an India-based group of young Tibetan activists, as a terrorist organisation.
“It’s an allegation which has no credibility. It’s most unfortunate that a big power like China is making such accusation without any evidence. The world will not take such accusations seriously,” said the Dalai Lama’s envoy in New Delhi.
“It’s shocking propaganda. That’s all I can say,” he said.
“The Tibetan struggle for autonomy is one of the few struggles which is based on non-violence. That’s why there is such an international outpouring of goodwill for the Tibetan cause,” he said.
The meeting between the Dalai Lama’s special envoys and Chinese officials Sunday, the first after protests erupted in Lhasa in March, ended without any progress on the Tibetans’ long-standing demand for genuine autonomy.
China has held the Dalai Lama and his followers responsible for inciting violence in Lhasa in March to besmirch Beijing’s image ahead of the summer Olympics – a charge vehemently denied by the Tibetan leader.
After Sunday’s meeting, Beijing accused the TYC of links with the Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations involved in the East Turkmenistan movement in China’s Xinjiang province.
“The TYC has become a terrorist organisation as concepts of violence have taken root within it,” Xinhua quoted official Tibetologist Liu Hongji as saying in an interview.
The accusation comes amid speculation that Beijing has agreed to a second round of talks with the Dalai Lama’s special envoys.