ndian MPs to raise Tibet in Parliament/ENG

2012. március 25./Phayul.com/TibetPress

DHARAMSHALA, March 25: A group of Indian parliamentarians have expressed concern over the unfolding “tragedy” in Tibet and assured Tibet activists of highlighting the issue before the Parliament and the Indian government.

Tibetans and Indian supporters have been lobbying Indian parliamentarians for over a fortnight in the Indian capital urging the lawmakers to raise the critical situation inside Tibet at the ongoing session of the parliament.

Activists of the Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) - India have met six members of the Indian parliament from both the houses.

In a release, SFT-India said they have urged the Indian Parliamentarians to “Stand Up for Tibet” by highlighting the ongoing crisis in Tibet at the Parliament and also ask India’s Foreign Minister S M Krishna to make a public statement “condemning China’s crackdown in Tibet.”

The lobbying campaign comes on the eve of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to India to attend the fourth BRICS summit at the end of this month.

As many as 30 Tibetans have torched their bodies since 2009 in Tibet, demanding the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile and freedom in Tibet.

According to the Central Tibetan Administration, 22 Tibetans have died in the ongoing wave of self-immolation protests, while the condition and whereabouts of other self-immolaters remain serious or are “unknown.”

“At a time when Tibetans inside Tibet are brutally oppressed and making ultimate sacrifices, it is highly crucial that world leaders intervene and pressure China to bring an immediate end to the crackdown in Tibet before more Tibetan lives are lost ” said Tenzin Jigdal, Program Director, SFT-India.

“Everyone we have met in the Indian Government expressed their concern on the tragedy unfolding in Tibet and assured to highlight the issue before the Parliament and to the Government.”

The activists have met senior Indian parliamentarians including Shri Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United), Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Shri Tathagata Satpathy of the Biju Janata Dal among others.