Bharat Rakshak

UK calls Dalai Lama to talk on human rights
Tuesday , May 13, 2008 at 04:07:05

Dharamsala, May 13: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will address the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament on May 22 on human rights issues including those in China.

The Tibetan leader has agreed to a request in this regard by the Foreign Affairs Committee, his office said in Dharamsala on Tuesday.

The meeting with the British Parliamentary committee will take place in Boothroyd room, portcullis house, the office of the Dalai Lama said.

The UK Foreign Affairs Committee is scrutinising the foreign and commonwealth office human rights annual report focussing on issues and countries where human rights are an area of concern.

"Given the particular interest in china's human rights record in 2008, the committee has requested the Dalai Lama to speak on a range of human rights issues when he visits UK in May and the noble laureate has agreed to this request," his office quoting the UK's committee said.

The Dalai Lama will meet UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on May 23, the sources said.

The Dalai Lama's office said, "Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet the Tibetan leader in his capacity as a spiritual leader but no doubt it would be an opportunity to discuss recent situation in Tibet."

During his nine-day tour of UK, the Dalai Lama will deliver a series of public talks and confer teachings, they said.

Rye wrote:Can we not get into the whole if-my-aunt-was-tall-strong-and-handsome scenarios about the past. We had one leader in those times, for better or worse, and it was JLN. Time to get used to that notion and work with the present.

NEW DELHI: In a strange move, at a time when the government is promoting "Come to India — Walk with the Buddha" to attract foreign tourists to Buddhist circuit in the country, five foreigners have been given Quit India notice to leave the country within seven days "for participating in a religious activity".

James Petersen, Lex Pelger and David Huang from US, Maryla Cross from UK and Paul Christians Buntz from Norway were given the notices for "violating the visa rules" by Pithoragarh SP Puran Singh Rawat on Friday as they reached Banspatan in Uttarkhand's border district with the Tibetan marchers who have been walking towards Tibet since March 10.

While 19 Tibetans were jailed on Friday, the foreigners were detained for a while, given the notice and asked to leave the area immediately.

On Monday, even as the Tibetans were released from Pithoragarh jail, the five foreigners were desperately trying to get in touch with their embassies and trying to figure out the meaning of the notice.

Speaking to TOI from Nainital, James Petersen, a writer from Montana who has been with the "Tibetan Shanti March" since the beginning, said, "I can't understand why the world's biggest democracy has to deport people for taking part in a peace rally. I didn't know that you could be deported from India for taking part in the teachings of your guru. Does this mean all the people coming to India for religious and spiritual reasons can be deported if they take part in any activity?"

Interestingly, India gets maximum number of tourists from the UK (16%) and US (15%), the two countries whose citizens have been given the deportation notice for "violating their tourist visa". Many of the tourists from these countries, where Buddhism is growing very fast as a religion, come to India for religious reasons. According to a study released by the Ficci in 2006, about 200,000 Buddhist tourists visit India every year, spending about $125 million in the country. This number could witness a sharp rise of 400% by 2012 and yield India $1 billion annually in the next four years, according to the Ficci study.

The government insists that the five have violated visa rules. "On tourist visa, you cannot take part in a religious activity. If we allow that, you will have people coming here to propagate their religion. It's only for travelling and sightseeing, etc. So, they have violated the visa rule by participation in the march," said Ashim Khurana, joint secretary (Foreigners) in the ministry of home affairs.

However, legal experts TOI spoke to said the notice in this case seems to be illegal. "The Quit India Notice is a very serious matter. It's used sparingly only in such cases where the person is a threat to the national security.

In this particular case, it seems to be totally wrong, biased and prejudiced. There is no law in the country which prevents people, including foreigners, from taking part in a protest march or a rally," said Shilpi Jain, a lawyer who deals with immigration and visa-related cases. Calling the notice a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, Supreme Court lawyer Mandeep Singh Vinayak said, "There are certain rights like right to equality available to everyone citizens as well as the aliens travelling on valid visas."

Foreigners aren't supposed to be in some border areas, but the five were detained 70 km before the military zone — the Inner Line. While Petersen has been covering the march for a US magazine, Buntz works for a Norwegian TV channel and Huang, a California-based photographer, has been taking pictures of the march that has covered some 1,000 km already.

"Its strange that such innocuous activities can invoke a deportation order in India," says Petersen who has just three days to leave India or face a jail term for violating the visa rules.

darshan wrote: Why does not GoI offer same treatment to EvanJehadis, BDs, terrorists, and Puke sympathizers?

By Amy Carr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Article Last Updated: 05/27/2008 02:58:18 AM EDT

Tuesday, May 27
It began with violence.

Mary Gandler clung to a metal bar beside her bus seat, a group of Tibetans ripping at her waist, shouting for her to get off. But without their scheduled taxi after a tour of Tibet's oldest monastery, Mary and her husband, Everett, had no choice but to hitch a ride with a bus hired by Tibetan pilgrims.

"They were physically trying to throw us off, but we had no ride," the 67-year-old Great Barrington woman remembered. "I'm an older woman and they are clinging to my shirt. But we managed to stay on."

What had begun as a cultural exploration to celebrate Mary's 55th birthday quickly turned into an encounter the Gandlers would never forget. "We're in Tibet, and it's my birthday, and we've just had this horrible experience with Tibetans, who had always been very kind to us before," said Mary. "So it was like, what is going on here?"

The question gnawed at the couple, who grew increasingly fascinated by the outpouring of frustration and violence in a region caught between peace and conflict.

For the past 12 years, Mary, a retired psychologist, and Everett, a retired Rabbi, have been traveling to schools and monasteries near
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Dharamsala, India, one or two times annually to educate Tibetan refugees about active nonviolence and a resolve to freedom.

"Nonviolence is a people's movement, so Everett and I started giving seminars to anyone who would hear us," Mary said. "Young people coming into India are angry, sad, frustrated, and we're very concerned about that because if there are riots you can rebuild monasteries, but rebuilding character is another thing."

More than 100,000 Tibetans, including the exiled Dalai Lama, have made their homes in India, fleeing Tibet, which has been controlled by China since 1959. China contends Tibet has historically been a part of China, while Tibet maintains its roots are as an independent country.

In March, with the eyes of the world on China as the country prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games, deadly riots and demonstrations tarnished the traditional torch relay in several countries around the world.

Through their recently certified, self-funded non-governmental organization Active Nonviolence Education Center, the couple aims to illuminate individual power.

"Sometimes I say to my students, 'What do you think a nonviolent arm looks like?' " said Everett, a wiry man in his late 70s who was once jailed in Georgia with Martin Luther King Jr. "And of course they say, Ghandi's arm. But then I show them a cover of the New York Times Magazine with four Huskies who look like young Schwarzeneggers. So it's getting them to see it can be both. How morality can gain muscle to affect politics."

Martin Luther King Jr. The Dalai Lama. Mary and Everett Gandler.

Though the local couple has met both historical figures multiple times, they do not regard their efforts with the same esteem. Rather, they look at more than a decade of service as a modest and realistic effort toward a monumental goal.

"We come in and we do our road show, and it's a big hit," said Everett. "But we say, you need someone who can handle this all year round. You need to build a community and ask people, 'What do you think you can do to maintain your language, culture and economy? What can you do to make it harder for this conflict to go on?' "

On Sept. 1, just after the conclusion of the Olympics, the Gandlers will return to India to check on their program and preach active nonviolence. With each visit, they brief the Dalai Lama on their program.

Though their mission stemmed from a moment of violence, the Gandlers hope it will conclude with a peaceful resolution. "We don't know what it will be like when we go back, with the eyes of the world no longer on China," said Mary. "The task still is getting this message into Tibet. But we'll keep showing them that they can make a difference. Whether it's posting a video online or writing a letter, the goal is to let each person know they have more power than they think they do."

& bite the hand that feeds it? The UPA will do no such thing.

ramana wrote:The Chinese quake has taken the Tibetian cause of the radar. Add to that the PRC politicians are using the quake to remake their image. And Tibetians dont want to appear to exploit the PRC problems.

vsudhir wrote:'Bad KARMA':Actress Sharon stone blames Tibet mistreatment for China Quake (Video)

Karan Dixit wrote:It is beyond dispute at various periods of its long history that Tibet came under differing degrees of foreign influence: the Mongols, the Gurkhas of Nepal, the Manchu emperors of China and the British rulers of India all played their parts. At other periods in the plateau's history, it was Tibet which exercised power and influence over its neighbours - including China.

It would be hard to find any state in the world today that has not been subjected to foreign domination or influence at some era in its history. In Tibet's case the degree and duration of foreign influence and interference was relatively limited.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7411011.stm