Protests do not amount to olympic torch disruption:Tibetan MP

Hyderabad, Apr 11 (UNI) Ahead of the Olympic flame pass through New Delhi on April 17, Tibetan Member of Parliament Gyari Bhutuk today maintained that right to protest the genocide in Lhasa and other areas of Tibet by China, could not be taken away from the Tibetans in India and other parts of the world.

''The Tibetan government in exile did not support the disruption of the Olympic torch relay around the world and his holiness the Dalai Lama is supporting the olympics'', he told reporters here along with fellow MPs Van Orgyen Tubgyal Rimpoche and Tsering Yuken.

''Expression of protest cannot be denied to anybody, leave alone Tibetans. Tibetans had every right to register their protest over persecution of Tibetans in Tibet and over the ongoing patriotic education by people's Republic of China, which forced every Tibetan in Tibet to denounce his holiness the Dalai Lama'', he asserted.

He welcomed India's stand that while ensuring adequate security for olympic torch relay, it would not impose ban on people from assembling near or along the route.''New Delhi has rightly taken a stand of a nation of its stature'', he added.

He made it clear that the Tibetans would not try to disrupt the olympic torch relay as the same would not not serve any purpose.

Appreciating the International Olympics Committee for expressing concern over deteriorating situation inside Tibet, he wanted the IOC to respect the feelings of the Tibetans by ensuring that the celebratory Olympic Torch did not pass through the Tibetan plateau as this would be a symbol of international apathy towards Tibetans in Tibet and their plight.

He said it was high time that China engaged in a sincere and result-oriented dialogue with his holiness the Dalai Lama, the legitimate spokesman of the Tibetan people. He sought the intervention of the International Community for an independent and impartial probe into ongoing killings in Tibet.

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