TOKYO:  Cutting across party lines, more than 150 Japanese parliamentarians on Tuesday pledged their full support to the issue of Tibet, and urged China to stop the unlawful suppression of the Tibetan people in a statement read out in front of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Japanese parliament building.

“The Chinese government is violating the human rights of the Tibetan people in a ruthless manner. It is imposing strict limitations on the Tibetans for their freedom of political, religious, cultural and economic activities and punishing those who protest with physical torture and other atrocious means. A number of Tibetans have self-immolated in order to protest against such oppression. However, the Chinese government does not address the grievances of the Tibetan people and also does not respond to the Central Tibetan Administration’s repeated requests for the resumption of dialogue in seeking a peaceful solution of the Tibetan issue”, the statement said.

‘We strongly urge the Chinese government to immediately stop the unlawful suppression of the Tibetan people’s human rights and improve the situation. We are also ready to send such a message to the international community without any hesitation”, it noted.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama was at the Japanese parliament building to speak to members of the Japanese parliament from various political parties on ‘Human Values and Universal Responsibility’.

In the afternoon, His Holiness the Dalai Lama attended a panel discussion on ‘Wisdom of Healing: Balancing Body and Mind’ with noted Japanese molecular scientist Dr Suzumi Tonegawa, 1987 Nobel laureate for Medicine, and Dr Maroki Gakiya from Tokyo university.

The discussion was moderated by Dr Barry Karzun and organised by the Human Values institute based in Japan.

More than 1500 people came to the discussion which was held at the conference hall of the Royal Park hotel in downtown Tokyo.

Tomorrow, His Holiness will address the local Tibetan community in Japan after which he will leave for India.