New Delhi: Having completed 50 years of Tibetans' stay in India, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama started a 'Thank You India' campaign here in the capital on Tuesday by offering prayers at various religious shrines. On this occasion, the Nobel laureate leader offered prayers at a gurudwara, a church and a temple and thanked India for providing political asylum to him and thousands of other exiled Tibetans over the last five decades. He also appreciated the institutions in India for providing education to the Tibetan youth. "Since the last 50 years, we have very close relationship with our Christian brothers and sisters. So it's my duty to express my thanks to Christians and many schools and colleges in India for taking care of the education of Tibetan boys and girls here. Thank you very much," said Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans, at a Church. Meanwhile, Tibetan youths distributed sweets to people across the city to express their gratitude to the Indian Government and people for providing them shelter. "We are very grateful to the Indian Government and people for giving us political asylum for the last 50 years. We are celebrating 'Thank You India' programme to honour them," said Tenzing Norsang, Joint Secretary, Tibetan Youth Congress. The Dalai Lama fled from Tibet in 1959 and set up a Tibetan government-in-exile in India, which has an estimated 80,000 followers, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. On March 10, the Dalai Lama marked his 50 years in exile in India by demanding 'meaningful autonomy' for his Tibetan homeland. The year-long 'Thank You India' campaign will continue for five days in Delhi.

Dalai Lama demands probe into hacking of Tibetan websites

     The Dalai Lama called for an investigation into reports of hacking of Tibetan website by China. "Some individuals want to see me and want to correspond with our concerned officials, that information has been reached to Chinese hands. I call for a thorough investigation into reports of spill of information from the Tibetan website by China," the Dalai Lama told reporters at a press conference here. A computer located in the private office of the Dalai Lama was infected with a virus. Reportedly, this virus was capable of 'phoning home', which means stealing information such as e-mail lists with thousands of names and negotiating position documents from the machine and sending it to those in control of the virus. On this score, the Dalai Lama also appealed to the Chinese government to allow access to impartial media inside Tibet to ascertain the Chinese propaganda about the scenario of his homeland. "I take this opportunity to appeal the Chinese government to allow international unbiased media people to visit Tibet. Let them see, if things are good as Chinese propaganda always state. One way so much propaganda and one way including tank. I was told about 50 tanks stations in Lhasa ready to shoot," he added. Meanwhile, China rejected the report suggesting it may be involved in using computer networks to spy on Tibetan exiles and foreign governments, accusing its authors of being possessed by 'the ghost of the Cold War'. A report from the Toronto-based Munk Center for International Studies in Toronto had noted that at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries were breached by the electronic spying, which it said was based in China but could not be definitively linked to the government. Among the sites infiltrated from China were embassies, foreign ministries and government offices, especially across southeast and south Asia, and the Dalai Lama's Tibetan exile centres. These were the observations of the Canadian researchers in a report that was released last week.
- Apr 5, 2009