US religious freedom envoy in D’sala, declares gov’t support for Tibetan rights

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama with US Ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom Mr Samuel D Brownback. (Photo courtesy: OHHDL)

(TibetanReview.net, Oct28’19) – The US Ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom Mr Samuel D Brownback has expressed his government’s support for the Tibetan people and their right to choose their Dalai Lama reincarnation as he arrived at Dharamsala on Oct 27 evening. He has been invited by President Lobsang Sangay of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) to be the chief guest at the First International Conference on Tibetan Performing Arts and the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA).

The ambassador said the purpose of his visit was to send a clear message that “the United States government supports the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama and that the role of picking a successor to the Dalai Lama belongs to the Tibetan Buddhist system, the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist leaders. It does not belong to anybody else, not any government or any entity,” reported the CTA on its Tibet.net website Oct 27.

“I want to express that clearly,” Brownback was further quoted as saying, adding, “The US government supports the Dalai Lama and supports for the succession of the Dalai Lama to be done by the Tibetan Buddhist leadership.”

He was reported to have met with a group of survivors of religious persecution who had recently escaped from Chinese-ruled Tibet.

Brownback is accompanied by three staffers from the US State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom and two from the US Embassy in New Delhi.

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