New Delhi — The Tibet Advocacy Alliance - India launched its advocacy week in New Delhi on Monday, coinciding with the winter session of the Indian Parliament. The Tibetan NGO members urge Indian MPs to raise the Tibet issue in Parliament and recognise Tibet as an occupied country. They also call on India to put pressure on China to end its cultural genocide in Tibet.
The Tibet Advocacy Alliance - India includes Sonam Tsering from the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), Choenyi Dolma from the Tibetan Women's Association, Genden Tsephel from the National Democratic Party of Tibet and Tenzin Lekden from Students for a Free Tibet-India, Sonam Yangtso from the International Tibet Network and Tenzin Damdul from the Foundation for Non-Violent Alternatives. They began their week of lobbying for Tibet with Indian MPs on Monday, November 25, 2024, coinciding with the winter session of the Indian Parliament, and met with 12 Indian MPs over two days in New Delhi, India.
Sonam Tsering, General Secretary of TYC and a member of the Tibet Advocacy Alliance – India, told TPI: "The aim of this advocacy is to get the Indian Parliament to support Tibet by visiting MPs and requesting them to raise the Tibet issue in Parliament, discuss the Tibet issue in Parliament and pass a Tibet Support Bill."
On the first day, the alliance met with several leading parliamentarians, including Dr Shashi Tharoor, MP from Kerala and Chairperson of the Committee on External Affairs, Shri Mohmad Haneefa, MP from Ladakh and Member of the Committee on Defence, Dr. Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, MP from Manipur and Member of the Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports and Shri E.T. Mohammed Basheer, MP from Kerala and Member of the Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment.
On the second day, they met with Bhartruhari Mahtab, MP from Odisha and Convener of the All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet (APIPFT), Anurag Singh Thakur, MP from Himachal Pradesh, Dr Indra Hang Subba, MP from Sikkim, Janardan Singh Sigriwal, MP from Bihar, Jyotsna Mahant, MP from Chhattisgarh, Rajeev Kumar Rai, MP from Uttar Pradesh, Dr Sasmit Patra, MP from Odisha, Dr Rajeev Bhardwaj, MP from Himachal Pradesh.
During their visit to the MPs, they made appeals, firstly urging India to recognise Tibet as an occupied country, which historically has been the border between India and Tibet, not between India and China. Secondly, they requested the parliamentarians to raise the Tibet issue, particularly the systematic eradication of the Tibetan language, Buddhism and culture by the Chinese government, and put pressure on China in this regard.
Thirdly, they ask India and MPs to recognise the contribution of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the revival and preservation of Indian traditional knowledge, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama celebrates his 90th birthday next year, and we also ask for a statement supporting the decision of the Tibetan people and Buddhists to choose the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama.
Sonam Tsering said: "So far, the lobby has been very successful, we were able to make MPs aware of the situation in Tibet, many of them have knowledge about Tibet and they have shown their interest and support for the issue of Tibet."
