Dalai Lama offers to resign

The Dalai Lama said yesterday he would resign as leader of Tibet’s exiles if unrest in his Himalayan homeland worsened, as aides said a Chinese crackdown had claimed 19 more lives.

The Buddhist leader, speaking in the northern Indian town where his exiled government is based, stressed he was opposed to the violence that erupted in Tibet last week, which saw Chinese shops and banks torched and smashed. The Nobel Peace laureate, 72, said Tibetans and Chinese needed to live “side by side,” urged his countrymen not to resort to violence and reiterated he was not trying to wrest the remote region from Beijing’s control.”We must build good relations with the Chinese,” the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters in Dharamshala.”We should not develop anti-Chinese feelings.We must live together side by side.In Tibet, Han Chinese and Tibetans can live happily.”Chinese authorities have responded to the unrest with a virtually total lockdown of Tibet and other areas of China with large Tibetan populations.Beijing has said 13 “innocent civilians” were killed by Tibetan “mobs,” but Tibetan exiles said nearly 100 Tibetans were confirmed dead, including, they said, 19 shot by Chinese police in the area of Machu in Gansu province yesterday.”There was a protest in Machu this morning, and police fired on them,” said Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama’s administration.In all, he said, “80 (Tibetan) people have been confirmed killed in Lhasa (the Tibetan capital) in the past several days and 19 killed today.”China has blocked reporters from entering areas where there are sizeable Tibetan populations, making it impossible to verify diverging accounts.The incidents have trained international attention on China’s human rights record before Beijing hosts the August Olympics.Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao renewed charges yesterday that protesters were trying to undermine the Games.Wen used an annual news conference broadcast around the world to blame the Dalai Lama for the violence, saying the spiritual leader was “hypocritical” and that Beijing had proof he had orchestrated the unrest.”We have plenty of evidence that proves that these incidents were organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique,” Wen said.But the Dalai Lama denied the charges, and spurned calls by some Tibetan exiles for an international boycott of the Olympics.”The Olympic games do not take place in Lhasa – the Olympic Games take place in Beijing.It is illogical to blame millions of Chinese,” he said.Nampa-AFPThe Nobel Peace laureate, 72, said Tibetans and Chinese needed to live “side by side,” urged his countrymen not to resort to violence and reiterated he was not trying to wrest the remote region from Beijing’s control.”We must build good relations with the Chinese,” the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters in Dharamshala.”We should not develop anti-Chinese feelings.We must live together side by side.In Tibet, Han Chinese and Tibetans can live happily.”Chinese authorities have responded to the unrest with a virtually total lockdown of Tibet and other areas of China with large Tibetan populations.Beijing has said 13 “innocent civilians” were killed by Tibetan “mobs,” but Tibetan exiles said nearly 100 Tibetans were confirmed dead, including, they said, 19 shot by Chinese police in the area of Machu in Gansu province yesterday.”There was a protest in Machu this morning, and police fired on them,” said Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama’s administration.In all, he said, “80 (Tibetan) people have been confirmed killed in Lhasa (the Tibetan capital) in the past several days and 19 killed today.”China has blocked reporters from entering areas where there are sizeable Tibetan populations, making it impossible to verify diverging accounts.The incidents have trained international attention on China’s human rights record before Beijing hosts the August Olympics.Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao renewed charges yesterday that protesters were trying to undermine the Games.Wen used an annual news conference broadcast around the world to blame the Dalai Lama for the violence, saying the spiritual leader was “hypocritical” and that Beijing had proof he had orchestrated the unrest.”We have plenty of evidence that proves that these incidents were organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique,” Wen said.But the Dalai Lama denied the charges, and spurned calls by some Tibetan exiles for an international boycott of the Olympics.”The Olympic games do not take place in Lhasa – the Olympic Games take place in Beijing.It is illogical to blame millions of Chinese,” he said.Nampa-AFP