Dalai Lama arrives in Dharamshala after visiting Tawang

Dharamshala, Nov 23 (ANI): Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived in Dharamshala on Monday, after finishing his visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Members of Central Tibetan Administration gathered at the Kangra Air Port to welcome their spiritual head.

Tsewang Rigzin, President, Tibetan Youth Congress said that he was hopeful that Prime Minster Manmohan Singh will raise the issue of Tibetans with President Obama.

"Well I think Prime Minster Manmohan Singh has been there (United States) since Saturday and he is going to be there for few days. I think the most important thing as far as I know from the media is that he is going to talk abut the Nuclear Cooperation with the United States that is for sure, he may also talk about terrorist related issues Manmohan Singh may also talk about the Tibet issue with Obama but I'm not sure," said Rigzin.

Currently Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is on a three-day state visit to United States of America during which he will hold meetings with the US President Barack Obama on various issues.

The Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamsala with thousands of his followers ever since they fled their homeland after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

In 1950, the Chinese troops marched into Tibet and occupied it. An estimated 134,000 Tibetans live in exile, a majority of them in India and Nepal.

Sympathizers of the Tibetans have accused China of repressing the religious aspirations of the Tibetans, specially, the exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Beijing calls the Dalai Lama a dangerous "splittist" plotting Tibetan independence, a charge he denies. He says he is merely seeking autonomy for Tibet. (ANI)