Eminent Indian MP lauds Tibetan non-violent struggle

Tuesday, 10 July 2007, 9:00 a.m.

(From left to right) MP Lama Lobsang, Kalon Tripa, Nirmala Desh Pandey and Kalon Thubten Lungrig (Photo: Sangay Kep)

Dharamshala: Shrimati Nirmala Desh Pandey, an eminent human rights activist and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) addressed scores of civil servants of the Central Tibetan Administration at the Gangkyi staff cafeteria here on 9 July.

In her opening address, she said that the United Nations has recently passed a resolution of declaring 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, as the International day of non-violence, which is a very significant event since the world community has accepted Mahatma Gandhi as the apostle of peace.

Quoting a Sanskrit saying, she said there is no other way, there is only way, it is the way of non-violence to seek peace and fight injustice.

Quoting His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s letter to US President George Bush in the aftermaths of 9/11, Mrs Pandey said His Holiness was the only world leader who attributed the disaster to the principle of cause and effect, and that analyzing and removing the root cause could avert its harmful effects.

Non-violence is an instrument of the brave and not of a coward, she said, quoting Mahatma Gandhi, who she described as the messiah of peace.

She further said that the globally renowned leader Aung San Suu Kyi also drew her inspiration from the non-violent campaign of Mahatma Gandhi. Suu Kyi today has become an international symbol of heroic and non-violence resistance in the face of oppression, she added.

The victory of non-violent struggle is permanent and final, as a non-violent solution is always a win-win gain for all the parties, she said.

In order to face the challenges of 21st century, we need to discover more refined and effective methods of non-violence than Mahatma Gandhi has initiated during Satyagraha movement, she further said.

The world public opinion for peace has emerged as the most powerful force in the world order after the disintegration of erstwhile USSR and today the whole Tibetan movement is a part of world opinion of non-violence and peace.

The non-violent struggle of Tibetans is in the right track, the world is with us and we are bound to victory, she said while singing the inspiring lines of Martin Luther King’s “we shall overcome, we shall be in peace”.