Dharamsala, April 12 – Tibetan leader-in-exile, the Dalai Lama has left on a month-long tour of U.S., Canada and U.K. Hundreds of Tibetans waited outside the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamsala to wish him luck before his departure on Sunday. “We have gathered here to wish him a very safe journey and success of his tour. We hope and offer prayers for his safe return to Dharamsala,” said Tenzin Samphel, a resident. The proposed tour has run into troubled waters over the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin’s reluctance to meet the spiritual leader during his visit to Ottawa.
Government sources in Ottawa have said it is unlikely that Martin will meet the Dalai Lama who will be in Canada from April 19 to May 6. The economic relationship between Ottawa and Beijing has been carefully cultivated by successive governments, and China has emerged as Canada’s fourth largest export market. Canada is also thought to be keen to sell a new batch of CANDU nuclear reactors to power-thirsty China.
Exiled Tibetans have accused the Canadian leader of bowing to pressure from China. There have been widespread calls in Canada for Martin to meet the Dalai Lama, including from leading lawmakers.
Tibetan supporters in Canada want the government to play a role as intermediary in nascent talks between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and the government in Beijing which first took place in September 2002. China, which accuses the Dalai Lama of separatism, regularly protests his meetings with world leaders, including his talks with US President George W. Bush last September.
The Dalai Lama denies Beijing’s charges, saying he wants Tibetan autonomy within China to be achieved peacefully.
The Tibetan leader has lived in exile since 1959 when Chinese troops crushed an abortive uprising in Lhasa against Beijing’s rule. The Dalai Lama, 68, is due to stop in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver giving a number of public talks. He will also visit Los Angeles from April 12 to 16.
From April 24 to May 6, he is scheduled to lead a Kalachakra, a Buddhist meditation ritual, in Toronto.
