Tibetans want mutually acceptable solution: Dalai Lama

India
Tibetans want mutually acceptable solution: Dalai Lama
By IANS, Jan 18, 2007 - 10:16:00 PM

Agartala, Jan 18 - The Tibetans want a mutually acceptable solution although there are no results as yet despite direct contacts established between Beijing and exiled Tibetan leaders, said Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama here Thursday.

'We want a mutually agreeable solution of the Tibet issue, but the present situation is not favourable for both China and Tibet,' the Dalai Lama told journalists here.

'Direct contact between the exiled Tibetan leaders and the Chinese government has been re-established since 2002 but it has not yielded any remarkable result,' he said.

The 71-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was in Tripura on a four-day visit that began Tuesday.

He addressed nearly 15,000 Buddhists, mostly from the Mog tribe Wednesday in south Tripura, besides laying the foundation stone of a Buddhist cultural complex.

In 1959, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, disguised as a soldier and with a small escort of 80-odd followers reached Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh after nearly three weeks of gruelling trekking on foot and on mule backs.

He has been living in the north Indian town of Dharmsala since then. Asked for his comments on Chinese claims on Arunachal Pradesh, the Dalai Lama said it was not justified.

'After signing of tripartite agreement between Tibet-British India and China in 1914 and drawing of McMahon line, there is no doubt that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India,' he said.

Asked about the search for his successor, he said: 'Dalai Lama is not the real issue, but Tibet is.'

Talking about his succession issue, the spiritual leader said: 'Chinese leaders want a favourable Dalai Lama, but they must understand that the present Dalai Lama is not against China and only wants autonomy for Tibet.'

The Dalai Lama said he supports communism.

'I am humanitarian Marxist, I am Buddhist Marxist, I am not nationalistic Marxist, I am also a socialist. Marxist economic theory is for all,' the Dalai Lama said.

'It propagates for equal distribution and Marxism and Buddhism are working in a similar line. I am totally against totalitarian system and using force,' the Buddhist leader added.

He also appealed to the militant groups in the northeast to shun violence.

'Genuine demands and grievances of the militants should be solved across the table as violence is not a way to solve any kind of demands,' the Dalai Lama said.

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