Speaker explains his absence at Brussels conference

Thursday, 7 June 2007, 9:48 a.m.

Speaker Karma Chopel speaking at an exclusive press conference to Tibetan media here yesterday morning (Photo Sangay Kep)

Dharamshala: His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not the only one who had to cancel his Belgium trip because of Chinese pressure, the speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile yesterday said. He too was not allowed to attend the 5th International Tibet Support Group Conference held in Brussels from 11-14 May.

On 11 May, along with eight other Tibetans, Mr. Chophel boarded the Lufthansa flight no. LH 761 to Frankfurt, where they were to catch a connecting flight to Brussels. After waiting for an hour and half, Mr Chophel said that when he reported for the connecting flight, he was instantly detained by the airport authorities on grounds that he had “no valid VISA to visit Germany”.

“I tried to reason with them that I was only in transit to go further to Brussels, there was no need of visa for Germany. I also pointed out to them as to how they could then allow my other friends to proceed and single me out for detention. They could not give me a satisfactory answer and only insisted that I had no visa for Germany,” Mr Chophel wrote, in a letter, dated 1 June, to the Germany Embassy in New Delhi.

Even though the airport officials did not admit that they were acting under the pressure of China, it was quite obvious, Mr Chophel said here yesterday morning at an exclusive news conference for Tibetan media.

When asked why he took so much time in making this public, Mr Chophel said that he does not wanted this mishap to be a cause of embarrassment for Germany, which has been extremely generous and steadfast in its support for the Tibetan cause.

Besides, after his deportation, he was still exploring other possibilities of visiting Brussels, Mr Chophel said. Unfortunately, the days after his deportation turned out to be Saturday and Sunday, when the embassies usually remain closed.

Mr Chophel said that a lot of baseless rumours about why he was unable to attend the Brussels conference has been floated within the Tibetan community. Attributing those rumors to the “yellow journalism of some newspapers”, Mr Chophel said that the media should not degrade itself into muckraking.