The Dalai Lama makes a formal request for his political retirement

New Delhi, 14 Tues - The Dalai Lama urged Tibetan Parliament today the start of democratic reform that allows you to withdraw from the political power to his death and ensure the permanence of the institutions in exile.
"If we continue in exile for several decades, there will be an inevitable moment in which I can no longer be the leader," said the Dalai, 75, in a message sent to the Tibetan Parliament in exile, met today.
"For our democratization process is complete, it is time for me to delegate my formal authority in an elected leader," said Tenzin Gyatso, which ranks fourteenth in the historic lineage of the Dalai.
The intention of ceding political power had been heralded by the Dalai Lama on the 10th, in a statement issued to mark the 52 anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against China, which led him into exile in India.
His decision, said, reflects the desire to "ensure the continuity of government in exile to resolve the Tibet issue" with the belief that "the government of one person is anachronistic and undesirable."
The ball is now in the court of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, located in the northern town of Dharamsala India, which from tomorrow will discuss whether to accept the request of the Dalai, told Efe by telephone the secretary of the House, Tenzin Norbu.
The Dalai Lama has led the Tibetan movement in exile since he fled Lhasa, but justified the delay in offering its withdrawal by the "lack of experience and maturity of democratic institutions" that have been building the exiled leaders.
"We need to establish an adequate system of government as I have ability and health, for the Administration to Tibetan self-sufficient and not dependent on the Dalai Lama", asked the deputies.
Required to approve your request to cancel several old former political enactments, and, above all, reform the instrument governing the political organization of Tibetan institutions, the Charter of Tibetans in exile, passed in 1991.
The Dalai heads a theocratic system yet, which combines in his figure the political and religious, although he himself has said he lives in a semi-retirement from politics and do not plan to go to Parliament these days.
"He's busy with his teaching and not attend parliamentary debates. But of course no change in the spiritual plane. The Dalai Lama will continue his work, "the spokesman told Efe Buddhist leader, Tenzin Talkha.
The proceedings of Parliament coincides with a political moment of uncertainty, waiting for the Tibetans in exile on Sunday to elect their "Kalon Tripa" or prime minister, since they aspire to three candidates.
Looking at the real Tibet from India fence, Tibetans in exile have built parallel government institutions, although the government is not formally recognized by other countries.
In Sunday's elections will vote nearly 80,000 exiles scattered throughout India, U.S. and various European countries, Efe said the head of the Electoral Commission, Jampal Chosang, adding that the results will be known on April 27.
They are important because the winner could take political office he held until now the Dalai, although no assurances that Parliament takes a decision in this regard, as Torbu.
The Dalai Lama has been in recent years suffering from health problems, which forced him to relax his official agenda, but are still common overseas trips, meetings and seminars with leaders of Buddhist philosophy.
And her figure is the glue that has served as the Tibetans in exile and as a reference for those who remain in the region under the command of China, a country that has strained relations with India for accepting to take shelter in the entourage of the Dalai.
"The lineage of lamas daláis has provided political leadership for nearly four centuries, so it might be difficult for Tibetans to accept a political system that is not led by the Dalai Lama" Gyatso himself acknowledged today, asking that he release of that function.

Tibetan Parliament in exile moved their protest to New Delhi

New Delhi, 19 March 2008. - The deputies of the Tibetan Parliament in exile today Indian protest moved to New Delhi, where he cried out against "repression" of the revolt in Tibet by China and called for international monitoring on the ground .
"We ask the international community to intervene against this Chinese repression in Tibet. The UN must be alert. It is time to support the nonviolent movement and peace. All UN agencies must do something, "he told Efe Tibetan monk Acharya Yeshi and parliamentary Phuntsok.
After traveling to New Delhi India from the northern city that serves as headquarters in exile, Dharamsala, the 43 MPs sat in the shade of a tent in the central Avenue of Parliament, where they began fasting for eight hours to get attention on the situation in Tibet.
"The situation is very urgent, so we decided to start a hunger strike to show our support to our compatriots," said Efe parliament speaker Karma Choephel, who in a press conference reported that the Tibetans in China are "citizens second class. "
Tibet suffers a revolt that broke out last March 10 when hundreds of Buddhist monks took to the streets to mark the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Beijing in 1959.
In the following days there were riots and demonstrations that were suppressed by security forces and resulted in the deaths of thirteen people, according to China, but the Tibetan government in exile claims that the dead are actually a hundred.
Joined today by dozens of Buddhist monks, Choephel cried out for international intervention against the "propaganda" and "disinformation campaign" on China, where authorities have come to accuse the Dalai Lama of "hypocrite" and promoting violence.
"The accusations against the Dalai Lama are very wrong insinuations and propaganda is part of China to protect themselves and divert attention from the reality," said Efe Choephel.
In a press conference, the Dalai Lama on Tuesday had threatened to resign if Tibetans use violence, but this has not stopped the protests in the region are widespread in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai, where Tibetan communities is important.
Concerned about the fate of their compatriots, the deputies denounced the absence of independent witnesses in the disturbances and constraints experienced by the press to report the situation on the ground.
"It is not the demands for autonomy or independence. The question here is whether they are respecting human rights. And we are holding this event here in China because we could not, "said Vice President of the Chamber, Gyari Dolma.
Earlier, Dolma tearfully embraced former Indian minister George Fernandes and thanked him for his presence at the event, which included members of the parliamentary opposition india, very critical of the "weak" response from the Government of New Delhi to China's policy in Tibet.
"It's a shame that Parliament has not even attempted to pass a resolution condemning the war has begun against the Tibetans. The Marxists and the Congress Party (in government) have surrendered to China without any effort, "Fernandes claimed.
Although India recognized Tibet as part of China in the early 1950's, later took over the Dalai Lama and his government, after the Buddhist leader had to flee from Lhasa after the failed 1959 rebellion against the mandate Chinese.
This presence of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala has served occasionally as a weapon in the Sino-Indian bilateral relations, marked by decades of mistrust, border disputes and war held in 1962.
In between the two Asian powers, the 43 MPs today called Dharamsala Tibetans "not to be forgotten" before unveiling his plan to shock the Tibetan new crisis: international supervision, care for the wounded to death and freedom of the press .

Nathu La traders pay suspicion between India and China

New Delhi, November 1, 2006. - Trading has never been easy between India and China, as evidenced by the meager balance of the first three months after the opening of business of the passage of Nathu-La, Tibet connecting thread with the small eastern Sikkim region of India in the foothills of the Himalayas.
After a closure that lasted 45 years, the authorities opened the border on July 6 for a period of three months before the winter seasonal closure, after tough negotiations, with high expectations and very questionable result.
The flow of investments has been tiny at that time: according to the Government of Sikkim, India has exported goods to China for 15,000 euros, while the value of imports amounted to 19,000.
Very little if one takes into account the forecasts of 36 million euros for 2007 made ​​by the Study Group on Trade Nathu-La before the publication of the terms of the opening.
And a negligible amount to two countries exchanged goods and services worth 14.713 million euros in 2005, 37.5 percent more than last year, mostly by sea.
In Nathu-La, shortly after the opening of the passage in the mountains, the vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Hao Peng, and told reporters that India had applied too many conditions to the exchange of products.
"I hope the Indian authorities take a more egalitarian with respect to trade with China, rather than impose such restrictions," he said.
But in India, things are otherwise, as he told EFE Minister of Commerce and Industry in the region of Sikkim, RB Subba, for whom the opening of Nathu-La is the result of a "border agreement, not free trade. "
"We can export and import products 29 15, and perhaps this is a cause for the amount of trade is so low. But we have sent a request to the Government of India to expand the list, "he said.
The reality is that local merchants are discouraged by the difficulties of trading across the border, with a preset list of permitted and limited to only stay one day.
The result of both obstacle is that, as he told the Indian press secretary of the Merchants' Association of Sikkim, Anil Kumar Gupta, a trader has to get up "every day at three o'clock to sell in China and return the same day ".
And in three months, only 696 Indians and 1,253 small Chinese vendors have guts to get up so early and go out and sell agricultural products, such as those derived from yak, vegetables or fruits, and simple manufactures.
The merchants also face a peculiar condition, which limits individual transactions to a maximum of 435 euros a day, which, according to Gupta, "prevents large-scale development activities."
Subba Minister shares the criticism: "The Government of Sikkim supports free trade across borders, because it is the only way to grow trade between China and India, so I look forward to a review of the agreement."
Until then, the minister prefers to take things on the positive side, and, as recognized by EFE, considers that the agreement is the first "peace symbol and a sign of friendship between two giants."
Because, with its limitations, open the passage was the result of three years of negotiations between two countries that have serious differences in the pattern of their border, both in Sikkim and in Kashmir, to the point of having waged a war.
So for Subba, the small and limited trade flows in Nathu-La is a hopeful sign of mutual acceptance between the two most populous countries.