India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had a meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama during the Nobel laureate's two-day lecture tour at the Delhi University last week.
Tempa Tsering, chief representative of the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, said the meeting lasted for about 45 minutes during which many issues, including issues related to Tibet and international issues were discussed.
"His Holiness the Dalai Lama being the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, one can assume that he would discuss the Tibetan issue in detail when meeting the world leaders and other people," said Tsering when asked to elaborate on the Tibetan leader's discussion with the Indian Prime Minister.
According to Tempa Tsering, the Dalai Lama met Manmohan Singh for the first time since Singh sworn in for his second tenure as the Prime Minister of India. Many important Indian officials, including the Minister of External Affairs Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna were present during the low key meeting.
Neighboring China has complained about Tibetan exiles' activities in India and accused the Dalai Lama of trying to stir up tensions between Beijing and New Delhi. India's government says it does not allow any anti-China activities on its territory, including Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama says he seeks only cultural autonomy for his homeland.
The Buddhist monk has lived in exile since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. An estimated 140,000 Tibetans now live in exile, about 100,000 of them in India.
