Dalai Lama preaches peace to huge crowds in Tawang

Tawang: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama yesterday called for universal brotherhood and peace among all communities as he addressed more than 30,000 devotees in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

"Compassion and peace are the two words that should be remembered by all," the Dalai Lama said at the opening day of the three-day religious discourse at the Polo Ground in Tawang.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who arrived on a week-long visit to this strategic Indian border state on Sunday, had raked up a controversy by hitting out at China during two separate interactions with journalists on the first day of his trip.

The Dalai Lama said Chinese opposition to his visit to Arunachal Pradesh was "totally baseless" and was on expected lines and nothing "unusual".

He also charged Beijing with unnecessarily trying to accuse him of encouraging a "separatist movement" in Tibet.

A day after the Dalai Lama's barbs at China, Arunachal Pradesh government officials yesterday informally requested journalists not to ask any questions or interact with the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Request

"Please don't try to ask any questions to the Dalai Lama," an official told a group of journalists without elaborating on the reasons.

This is, however, seen as an attempt by New Delhi to avoid further embarrassment. Beijing had opposed the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh as it lays claim on the territory.

India and China fought a border war in 1962, with Chinese troops advancing deep into Arunachal Pradesh and inflicting heavy casualties on Indian troops. China has never recognised the 1914 McMahon Line agreed between the British and the then Tibetan rulers and claims 90,000 square kilometres of territory, that includes nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh.

Thousands of followers, including monks donning maroon robes and some foreign devotees, listened to the Dalai Lama's preachings sitting on the ground under a clear sky.