Thousands attend 23rd anniversary of Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize at Indian monastery
Thousands of local Tibetans, monks, supporters of the Tibetan cause, and people from all over the world attended the 23rd anniversary of the conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, at Drepung monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka state, on Monday.The commemoration lasted for over two hours and after starting with a minute’s silence in memory of all those Tibetans who have sacrificed their lives for Tibet, included speeches from a number of activists, as well as from the Dalai Lama himself.
Speaking to the school children, His Holiness said that the children are the future stakeholders of Tibet. He also stressed that his decision to retire from politics was not because he felt hopeless or discouraged about the Tibetan situation. At the same time, he reiterated that we must focus our attention and concern on the current crisis engulfing Tibet. He said that the responsibility as well as the solution for the current crisis in Tibet lies with the Chinese government.
Since 2009 92 people have set fire to themselves in protest of the continued governance of Tibet by China, and called for the return of the spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. November, along with the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, saw a dramatic escalation in the number of self-immolation protests, in one month alone there were over 25 incidents, and thousands gathered to pray for the 'martyrs' and express solidarity with the protest.
China has also cracked down on the gatherings following immolations, and on protests, elevating concern from the international community. Human Rights Watch have said that: 'The central government should devote as much energy to addressing the deep-rooted problems facing Tibetans as it is on punishing the families of those who have taken the drastic step of protesting by self-immolating...Instead of stepping up repression and driving people to believe there is no hope of change, Beijing needs to take steps to respond to Tibetans' grievances.'
