DHARAMSHALA: The Central Tibetan Administration will observe International Solidarity Day tomorrow on 17 May. The International Solidarity Day is being organised to symbolise international community’s solidarity with the aspirations of the Tibetan people inside Tibet who yearn for freedom and continue to stand strong in the face of great adversity.

The Department of Information and International Relation’s Tibet Museum will showcase a full-day exhibition tomorrow at the Tsuglagkhang from 10:00 am. The exhibitions are entitled ‘History of Tibet’, ‘A Long Look Homeward’ as well as a special exhibition on the wave of Tibetan self-immolations since 2009.

The Department of Religion of the Central Tibetan Administration will organise a prayer service at 04:00 pm at the Tsuglakhang. The prayer service is being held as a mark of solidarity with all the Tibetan self-immolators and those suffering political incarceration in Chinese prisons. The gathering will pray for Lobsang Dawa and Kunchok Woeser, who set themselves on fire on 24 April near Taksang Lhamo Kirti monastery in eastern Tibet.

After the prayer service, a function will be held at the Tsuglakhang courtyard. The Kashag and the Tibetan Parliament in Exile will address the gathering, followed by a brief presentation on the life of 11th Panchen Lama Gedun Choekyi Nyima by Tsangtruk Top, a teacher at Sarha College for Higher Tibetan Studies.

The function will conclude with a short skit by the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts or Gopalpur TCV School, followed by a mass recitation of Words of Truth (Den-Tsig-Mon-Lam), a prayer composed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Observation of this day is decided jointly by the Kashag and Parliamentary Standing Committee.

With self-immolations now numbering 117 since February 2009, and over a million Tibetans perished as a result of Chinese occupation, Tibetans inside Tibet are sending a clear signal to the world rejecting P.R of China’s policies in Tibet which have led to political repression, cultural assimilation, environmental destruction and economic marginalization. Now, more than ever before, Tibetan people need to be reassured and given hope that their plight has not been forgotten by the rest of the world.

The Central Tibetan Administration therefore calls upon Tibetans and their friends to observe this day with expressions of solidarity involving people’s elected representatives, local government or holding an activity as deemed appropriate. In view of self-immolations, particularly the recent self-immolation by two monks of Ngaba Kirti monastery, all are requested to hold prayers on the same day.