DHARAMSHALA: Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay on 20 June met with the participants of  ‘Little Lhasa Program’, a flagship program started three years ago by the Students for a free Tibet for Indian students and youth. It is a one-week intensive study of the Tibetan community-in-exile where the students comprising 14 participants are introduced to the Tibetan culture, way of life, arts, music, and its political struggle. Nine students from the Tibet Society of Edinburgh University joined the program.

Sikyong spoke on how Tibetans inside Tibet are suffering social discrimination, economic marginalization, political repression, cultural assimilation and environmental destruction under the Chinese rule.

He also spoke on the primary objective of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) to alleviate the sufferings of the Tibetans inside Tibet given the urgent situation.

He clarified the participants’ doubts about the CTA’s Middle Way Policy of seeking genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people rather than independence. He also responded to the their queries on the scope of the Middle Way Policy, the support of the international community and India for the issue of Tibet, and Tibet’s fragile environment and its geopolitical significance.