Bond still strong after 51 years of separation, says Kalon Tripa [Friday, 14 January 2011, 9:47 a.m.]

DHARAMSALA:
Despite remaining physically separated for over the last 51 years, the
Tibetans inside Tibet have kept unwavering faith in His Holiness the
Dalai Lama and remained united in heart with their brethren in exile,
Kalon Tripa told a special gathering of Tibetans in Sarnath yesterday.These
Tibetans – comprising of over 1,800 pilgrims – have traveled all the
way from different parts of Tibet to attend a five-day teaching of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama. Kalon Tripa said: “I have come here specially along with members of the Kashag to meet and greet new arrivals from Tibetans.”  “Even
though the younger Tibetans who are born and brought up after 1959 –
have never met His Holiness the Dalai Lama, nor seen and heard of
Tibet’s earlier free society – deeply believe in and revere His
Holiness the Dalai Lama,” Kalon Tripa said.“The Tibetans inside
Tibet have remained patriotic and braved great tribulation by
sacrificing their lives to preserve our identity, which is a remarkable
achievement of their last three generations,” he said.“We in
exile have also been keeping our faith intact on Tibetans living inside
Tibet, whom we describe as the hope of Tibet’s survival,” he added.Kalon
Tripa said: “The integrity and courage of Tibetans living inside Tibet
in preserving their identity, language, religion and culture from
annihilation by overcoming many obstacles is being clearly recognised
by people across the world who support truth.”“The consistent
stand maintained by Tibetans inside Tibet has helped in winning many
hundreds and thousands of sympathisers in all countries of the world.
This is a matter of pride for all of us,” he said.“Moreover,
the Tibetans living inside Tibet come under constant threat as they
speak and work against the extreme restriction on freedom and
unbearable suffering inflicted on them. Despite of all these odds,
consistently holding on to the path of non-violence advocated by His
Holiness the Dalai Lama is their remarkable accomplishment and to which
we give our clear recognition,” he added.“It is not difficult
for those in free countries to believe in and practice non-violence,
however, to live under repression with intolerable resentment and
sadness in their hearts but still remain consistently non-violent is a
special pride of the Tibetan people. This position would be maintained
in the future and to do it is very crucial to Tibet’s fundamental
issue,” Kalon Tripa said.Kalon Tripa said: The different
activities during the special uprising across Tibet in 2008 were
voluntary organised by Tibetans inside Tibet to express their opinion
without any outside provocation, which attracted the interest and
sympathy of the entire world. Unlike other minority nationalities of
the People’s Republic of China, the behaviour of Tibetans in firmly
remaining non-violent during that time was in itself an outstanding
achievement.”