Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, an outspoken supporter of Tibet’s freedom, travelled to the north Indian picturesque hill abode of the exiled Dalai Lama to express her concern at the violence that has gripped Tibet in the wake of widespread and bloody protests there.
Ms Pelosi has strongly criticised China’s crackdown on Tibet. According to a news report: “Speaking of the violence in Tibet, she said the situation of Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world and that if the world doesn’t speak for Tibet today, it loses all moral ground to speak of human rights. Last week, she had issued a strong statement on China’s handling of the protests calling the ‘violent response’ by the Chinese police against peaceful protesters ‘disgraceful’.
“However, China has strongly reacted to her visit, saying that the Tibet issue is China’s internal matter and no country or person should interfere in it. The Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yang said that what happened inside china was no one else’s business.
The Times of London reports: “Officials of the Tibet Autonomous Region have imposed a news blackout, authorising only the state Xinhua news agency, China Central Television and Phoenix television to operate in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Local media must follow central government orders. Across Lhasa, people were being required to denounce the Dalai Lama. From government officials to children, all had to stand in public and attack their exiled god-king. More here…
The Independent says: “In stating his readiness to go to Beijing, the Dalai Lama has made a canny diplomatic move. Beijing’s leaders can ignore it or denounce it as a stunt. Yet a bold leader would embrace it as a chance to draw a line under the stalemate that has paralysed Tibet for the best part of half a century.”
According to the NYT: “China’s violent crackdown on protesters in Tibet is having powerful political reverberations in Washington, where the White House is weighing how far to go in condemning the Chinese government, even as it defends President Bush’s decision to attend the Summer Olympics in Beijing.”
Meanwhile I chanced upon this blog…Have a look…
(Dalai Lama and Nancy Pelosi in Dharamsala,India,… photo courtesy Ashwini Bhatia/Associated Press)
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.