By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, August 8: Hundreds of Tibetans and supporters today attended a prayer service called by the Central Tibetan Administration to commemorate three years in office by Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay after winning in the elections held in 2011.
The prayer service was presided over by the abbot of Namgyal Monastery Thomtok Rinpoche.
Addressing the prayer service, Sangay said that his administration, through the prayer service, honor the sacrifices made by Tibetans inside Tibet, especially those martyrs who have laid down their lives for Tibet since 1959, including those who set themselves on fire in protest against China.
Sangay also reiterated his government’s commitment to Middle Way Approach in solving the crisis inside Tibet. “The main purpose of Middle Way Approach is to solve the crisis in Tibet, it has helped sustain the Central Tibetan Administration and present the Tibet cause at international platform.”
On August 8, 2011, Sangay took the oath of office in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who described the day as “one of the most special days in Tibet’s 2000 years of history.”
“I took over the political leadership of Tibet from Sikyong Tagdrag Rinpoche when I was 16-years old. Today, in the 21st century, when democracy is thriving, I hand over the political leadership of Tibet to Sikyong Lobsang Sangay,” His Holiness announced.
The former senior fellow at Harvard Law School who won the last general elections with 55% assumed his role as the Sikyong (Political Leader), succeeding Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche who hailed Sangay’s oath taking as a “new chapter in Tibetan history” and a “giant step towards a genuine democracy”, worthy of recording in the annals in “golden letters”.
“I am here not as a result of my personal achievement but as a result of the hard work and sacrifices made by elder generations in Tibet and in exile … I pledge to strengthen and sustain our movement until freedom is restored in Tibet, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama returns to our homeland”, Sangay said during his swearing-in ceremony in 2011.
