(TibetanReview.net, Nov30’22) – A conference of Tibet campaign and advocacy groups from across India, which concluded in New Delhi today, has expressed recognition of the exile Tibetan administration, known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), at Dharamshala as the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people worldwide while extending complete support to its Middle Way Approach for resolving the decades-long Sino-Tibetan conflict.
In particular, the conference has demanded that “the Govt. of India … urge the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to facilitate the dialogue between the CTA under the guidance of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and PRC to amicably settle the long-standing issue of Tibet.”
The Middle Way Approach envisages the Tibetan-populated territory under illegal occupation of the PRC being accorded genuine or meaningful autonomy as promised by the country’s constitution for the ethnic minority regions. The approach was initiated by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, decades ago, but is opposed by a section of Tibetans that demands the restoration of the territory’s historical independence. China has condemned it as just another form of demand for independence.
Drawing inspiration from the Tibet Policy and Support Act, which became law in the United States in 2019, the two-day 7th All-India Tibet Support Groups Conference has condemned “China’s brazen” claim of “authority over the reincarnation of Tibetan Tulkus” which especially targets the reincarnation of the present Dalai Lama.
The conference’s Delhi Declaration 2022 has also criticized “China’s ill will policy of annihilating Tibetan national identity by introducing Mass Colonial Boarding Schools and the introduction of Putonghua to the kindergarten.”
It has also expressed “grave concern over the illegal occupation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China” and its “repressive policies in annihilating the Tibet’s distinct culture, ecology and national identity.”
And it has urged on the government and people of India “for more political and programmatic supports for sustaining the Tibetan identity and for the earnest resolution of the Sino-Tibet conflict.”
Taking part in the conference were stated to be more than 200 members of Tibet groups from across India. The event was organised by the Core Group for Tibetan Cause-India and facilitated by New Delhi-based Indo-Tibet Coordination Office (ITCO).
Sikyong (executive head) Penpa Tsering of the CTA addressed the conference’s inaugural function. Others who spoke on the day’s event were stated to include Dr Anand Kumar, National President of India Tibet Friendship Society (ITFS); Mr Sujeet Kumar, Member of Parliament and Convener of All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet (APIPFT); Mr Indresh Kumar, Patron of Bharat Tibbat Sahyog Manch (BTSM); and Mr Rinchen Khandu Khrimey, National Convener of the Core Group for Tibetan Cause-India.
And those who spoke at the gathering’s valedictory session were stated to include Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile; Dr Neerja Madhav, renowned author and friend of Tibet; Dr KC Agnihotri, Former Vice Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh Central University; and Secretary Karma Choeying of the CTA’s Department of Information and International Relations.