MR. JURIS SINKA PASSES AWAY
10 April, 2001: OBITUARY
Tibetan Refugees in Japan donates 1.2 million Yen for Gujurat earthquake victims
Mr. Juris Sinka, MP, Latvian Parliament, passed away in Lhasa on Tuesday, 3 April while on a visit to Tibet. He was there with three other Latvian Parliamentary Delegation for a 10-day visit to Tibet and China at the invitation of China’s Institute of Foreign Affairs.
According to reports, Mr. Sinka fell ill on arriving in Lhasa on 2 April and passed away the next day in his Hotel. He is reported to have died of heart attack. He was 74.
Two days prior to Mr. Sinka and his team’s departure for Beijing, in a meeting with Mr. Chimme Rigzin Chhoekyapa, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, Mr Sinka said that he accepted the invitation to visit China on the condition that they also visit Tibet. He said he would also forward a report about his trip to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Mr. Sinka, a firm friend of Tibetan people, had attended World International Parliamentarians Conference on Tibet (WPCT) in New Delhi, India (1994), and Vilnius, Lithuania (1995). He also participated in the European Parliamentarians meeting in Bern, Switzerland, in January 2001.
On behalf of his Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people, Mr. Chimme conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the wife and family. In him Tibet has lost a “true friend”, said Mr. Chhoekyapa.
TIBETAN REFUGEES IN JAPAN DONATES 1.2 MILLION YEN FOR GUJRAT EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
For the relief of the victims of January’s earthquake in Gujurat, the Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for East Asia and the small Tibetan refugee community in Japan handed over a cheque of 1,200,000 Japanese Yen to His Excellency Aftab Seth, Ambassador of India to Japan, towards Prime Ministers Relief Fund, on the 9th of April 2001.
“The people of India and Tibet have a very long history of special bond,” and “when Tibetans had to flee their country, we found solace in the government of India and the Indian people,” wrote Zatul Rinpoche, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a letter submitted with the cheque.