DHARAMSHALA: As the tragic self-immolations by Tibetans inside Tibet remain unabated, an international conference on “Status of Tibet in the Contemporary World Politics: Problems and Perspectives” was organised at the Government First Grade College based at Kushalnagar in Mysore district in southern India on 22 February.
The conference was jointly organised by the college and the Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society in Bylakuppe, and facilitated by Lugsam and Dekyi Larsoe Tibetan Settlement offices. Over 100 people, including students, teaching and non-teaching staff and regional representatives of monasteries and NGOs such as the Tibetan Women’s Association and Tibetan Youth Congress, attended the conference.
In its opening remarks Prof. H. C. Lohithaswa, principal of the college, said that it is the first important international conference organised by the college, with participation of professors and post graduate scholars from Mysore University, Mangalore University and Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala.
He stressed the importance of this conference, saying that it is being held at the most critical period of the Tibetan freedom struggle with the rising number of self-immolations by Tibet.
The organisers invited Dr. B. Tsering, a member of Tibetan Parliament-in exile, and Mr Karma D Namgyal, head of the UN, EU & Human Rights Desk of the Central Tibetan Administration’s Department of Information & International Relations, to address the conference.
Mr Karma D Namgyal spoke on his research paper entitled “Human Rights Situation in Tibet: Problems and Strategies”. His paper focussed on the historical aspect of the Sino-Tibet conflict and stressed the need of a multi-lateral approach to resolve the problem of Tibet. He also highlighted that the Chinese government has ruthlessly pursued decades of political repression, economic marginalization, cultural assimilation, environmental destruction and massive population transfer in Tibet, which he said are the root causes driving Tibetans to take the drastic act of self-immolation to protest the repression.
“The most important outcome of the conference was the presentation of 15 research papers on various issues relating to Tibet by research scholars from various universities in Karnataka and Kerala,” he told this website.