By RIA Novosti,
New Delhi : Some 500 Tibetan exiles gathered on Monday in the northern Indian town of Dharamasla for a congress to discuss further action at talks with Beijing on greater autonomy for Tibet.
The event to last until Saturday is officially to discuss “the developments in Tibet and abroad.”
The Dalai Lama, Tibetans’ 73-year-old spiritual leader, said in October he did not know how to deal with the Chinese authorities, who are reluctant to make concessions on Tibet.
The Dalai Lama has invited delegates to come up with “real and nonviolent options in our further struggle.” However, he primarily wants to find consensus among Tibetans, most of whom have voiced dissatisfaction over a lack of progress in talks with Beijing.
The unrest in early March in Tibet, which started when Buddhist monks took to the streets to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, left 19 people dead and 623 injured, according to official Chinese reports.
Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, of orchestrating the trouble. He has denied the allegations.
China’s handling of the protests was severely criticized in the West. Some leaders called for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in August if China failed to agree to hold talks with the Dalai Lama.