Tibetans urge Dalai Lama not to retire

Dharamsala, Jan.7 (ANI): The Tibetan Parliament-in-exile has appealed to the Dalai Lama, its exiled spiritual leader not to retire.

The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Tibetan Parliament submitted a memorandum to this effect to the Dalai Lama on Thursday.

Pempa Tsering, Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament said that people of Tibet still needed the Dalai Lama's leadership.

"At this very crucial time, we are facing destruction of Tibetan culture, heritage, language, environment inside Tibet and we are not very sure whether we will be able to survive all these onslaughts, because of Chinese policies inside Tibet. We still need his leadership. That is why the standing committee urges his holiness not to contemplate complete retirement," said Tsering.

He said that Dalai Lama has been speaking about his retirement for quite some time which is a cause of concern for the Tibetans, both inside and outside Tibet.

"We can see from the details that his holiness has not indicated any time frame for his retirement but he had said that in the next few months he will discuss with the Parliament, so due to these recent events, the news has been taken up very widely in the international press and also very seriously by the Tibetans inside Tibet and outside Tibet. We as Parliament have been receiving many memorandums addressed to his holiness, requesting him to refrain from talking about complete retirement," said Tsering.

The Dalai Lama had fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He now lives in exile in India and advocates "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet within China. Beijing regards him as a 'dangerous' and responsible for stirring up unrest in Tibet.(ANI)