Tibetan leader: End exile of Dalai Lama

DHARMSALA, India — The prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile urged his compatriots Saturday to strengthen efforts to make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.

Lobsang Sangay and the Dalai Lama spoke at a public event in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala marking the beginning of the 60th year of the spiritual leader’s exile in India.

Sangay said the Dalai Lama “dreamt of himself in a room in the Potala Palace filled with light where he will be reunited with Tibetans inside Tibet.” The Potala Palace in Lhasa was the residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

“We Tibetan people with the support of people of India and abroad should strengthen our efforts to make his return to his Potala Palace a reality,” Sangay said. “Let us reunite the Dalai Lama with Tibetans inside Tibet who have spent the last 60 years with a hope, with a dream to get a glimpse of the Dalai Lama in their lifetime.”

“Thousands and thousands of Tibetans have been killed and have died for the cause of Tibet. Many of them have burned themselves alive,” he said in a hard-hitting speech.

The Dalai Lama thanked India for giving shelter to him and said the Tibetans have turned their unfortunate circumstances into a path of enlightenment by reviving their spirit and influence wherever they are.

The Dalai Lama was subdued in his speech, but in the past he has said the issue of Tibet could be best resolved amicably through the middle way approach, resuming dialogue with China with a demand for true autonomy while remaining under Chinese rule.