By IANS,
Dharamsala : Senior BJP leader and member of parliament Yashwant Sinha Monday favoured that a forum of parliamentarians he is associated with should work out a new strategy to highlight the grim situation in Tibet.
Supporting the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the elected government of exiled Tibetans based here, he said: “I have detailed discussions on the current situation in Tibet with senior officials of the CTA, members of Tibetan NGOs and Tibet support groups.”
“A new strategy would soon come out of these discussions to deal the critical situation in Tibet,” Sinha, who is the convener of the All-Party Parliamentarian Forum on Tibet, told reporters here.
Fifty-one people have reportedly killed themselves in Tibet since 2009 to protest Beijing’s “repressive policies” and demand the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to his homeland.
Sinha reached here Saturday on a three-day visit.
“I am here to give whatever little strength to that hope and your cause,” a CTA statement quoted Sinha as saying.
“I have come here on behalf of my party and All-Party Parliamentarian Forum on Tibet to tell you that the government of India’s policy may be different, dictated by geopolitical considerations, but the parliamentarians and people of India are being guided by only one feeling – the feeling of brotherhood for the people of Tibet,” he said.
Slamming China for its frosty relations with the people in Tibet, the BJP leader said: “The Tibetans are dealing with the Chinese government, a regime which lacks humanism and believes only in authoritarianism and repression.”
“We need to marshal international public opinion as much as we can, which is being very ably done by his holiness the Dalai Lama and the Kalon Tripa (prime minister-in-exile), in future with greater determination.”
Expressing appreciation for Sinha’s support to the non-violent Tibetan struggle, Tibetan prime minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay said that “his support is crucial as Tibet is passing through an extremely difficult time”.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet along with many of his supporters and took refuge in India when Chinese troops moved in and took control of Lhasa in 1959.
Currently, India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans.