By IANS,
Dharamsala: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has clarified that his retirement from public life does not mean that he has forgotten the Tibetan struggle, saying it was his “moral responsibility” to carry the movement forward.
“More than 99 percent of Tibetans in and outside Tibet trust me, so I have the moral responsibility to serve them,” the Nobel laureate said in Kalimpong in West Bengal Tuesday, according to a post on the website of the Central Tibetan Administration Wednesday.
“My call for complete retirement does not mean that I will forget the Tibetan struggle. I am a Tibetan and every Tibetan has the moral obligation to carry out our own struggle,” he said.
He denied suggestions that he was no longer interested in the Tibetan struggle.
“I want to hand over the ceremonial role such as signing of legislations and documents to the democratically elected leadership,” he said.
He also spoke about his efforts to bring democratic reforms in Tibet before 1959 and later, while in exile.
“I always tell the elected Tibetan leadership to take full responsibility as if there is no Dalai Lama and they are doing it,” he said.
The Dalai Lama’s statement comes a few days after he indicated that he would quit public life and hand over most of his political powers to the prime minister-in-exile.
The Tibetan government-in-exile based here has also reiterated that the Dalai Lama would remain the Tibetans’ religious and temporal head.
“The Kashag (cabinet) would like to offer the wholehearted prayers of Tibetans, beseeching His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) to remain as ever the religious and temporal leader of Tibet,” a statement said on the 21st anniversary of conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on the Dalai Lama Dec 10.
“From the depth of our hearts, we request you never to consider or even talk about semi-retirement and full retirement,” it said.
The Buddhist leader, who fled to India in 1959 as China crushed an uprising in Tibet, is heading his government-in-exile from here.
The Dalai Lama, also a recipient of the US Congressional Gold Medal, is viewed by Beijing as a leader of Tibetan separatists.