M A I N   N E W S

India-China row
Dalai Lama avoids political speech at Buddhist meet
Ashok Tuteja/TNS

New Delhi, November 30
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama today carefully avoided making any political statement lest he gets into a controversy at the global Buddhist congregation in the backdrop of the indefinite postponement of the India-China boundary talks.

The four-day conference concluded this evening with the Dalai Lama’s 30-minute valedictory address in which he spoke about different religions, disappointing many in the audience who were expecting him to at least make a passing reference to the situation in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

A scheduled press interaction of the Dalai Lama immediately after the concluding ceremony was cancelled at the last minute by the organisers. Perhaps, they were under instructions from the Indian Government not to allow the media to talk to the Dalai Lama.

As the Dalai Lama was leaving the conference venue, reporters sought his reaction to the postponement of the Sino-Indian border talks, the Tibetan spiritual leader smiled and said “this is a political question… no comment.’’

In his religious discourse, the Dalai Lama said Buddha’s teachings were as relevant today as they were centuries back. “All religions have the potential to create a better world…we all must follow the practice of self-discipline.’’

However, what may irritate Beijing is that the congregation decided to form a new international body, called the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), which will be headquartered in India and serve as a common platform for Buddhists worldwide. “The IBC will operate under the over-arching theme of collective wisdom, united voice and universal responsibility’’, a resolution adopted by delegates from 46 countries said.

It may be mentioned here that China sought postponement of the boundary talks which were to be held on November 28-29 here as they would have coincided with the Buddhist conclave. Beijing wanted the cancellation of the Dalai Lama’s address to the conference but New Delhi refused to do so, saying it was a meeting of religious nature. Top Indian leaders or officials, however, avoided attending the meet.

Meanwhile, Chinese delegates were conspicuous by their absence at a conference ‘Trans Boundary Rivers-Multilateral Framework for Cooperation’, organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis and an Oslo-based research institute. Two Chinese delegates - Eri Hangdan and Jianchu Xu - were to attend the conference but withdrew at the last minute.