New Delhi, February 20 – Tibetan refugees staged a peace march here on Thursday in a bid to draw attention to the plight of Tibetans in China.
Organised jointly by the Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet and India Tibet Friendship Society, the march for world peace would extend to Sikkim and Tripura. The activists halted at Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi’s mausoleum and demanded Tibet to be recognised as a zone of peace. Activists accused China of systematic repression and human rights violations in Lahasa. They claimed that six million people in their country were harassed and subjected to discrimination. Carrying anti-Beijing placards and shouting slogans, the Tibetans called for an international intervention to end the Chinese invasion of their country.
“We want peace in the world and for this Tibet should be independent and free of the Chinese rule. There was no problem between India and Tibet, but since the time China occupied Tibet there is tensions at the Indo-Tibet border. We believe that first important thing is to free Tibet of Chinese rule,” said Tee Dorje, an activist from Ladakh.
The activists included a large number of old men and women. The activists hailed the efforts of Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in mobilising international opinion for the liberation of Tibet.
There has been sporadic violence in the Himalayan region of Tibet where many people resent what they see as Chinese occupation since the People’s Liberation Army marched in and imposed Chinese Communist rule in 1950.
