Dalai Lama's delegate congratulates new head of Indian parliamentary forum for Tibet

Representative Ngodup Dongchung from the Bureau of his holiness Dalai Lama in New Delhi congratulated the recently appointed convener Sujeet Kumar of the revived All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet (APIPFT) as noted by Phayul.

Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar was informed about the latest information regarding the situation inside Tibet by the Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration.

As per the Tibet.net report, both the representatives discussed varied matters including the larger Tibetan public spread across the diaspora. "Representative [Ngodup] requested Shri Kumar that apart from political [matters], Tibet's culture, language, religion and environment which are being destroyed by Communist China to be raised in the Indian Parliament as these are significant to India [as well]," it further said.

The Indian parliamentarian in turn assured his full support to the cause and said that he will do his best to make the forum more 'active and vigour' in advocating for the Tibetans, as noted by Phayul.

Earlier, APIPFT was first established in 1970 under the leadership of M C Chagla. Subsequently, George Fernandes and Mohan Singh took over the forum.

Last month, the new head of the forum and other members were asked by the Chinese embassy in New Delhi to put a halt on engaging with Tibetan leaders in exile, noting that India should refrain from providing support for "Tibetan independence forces", as reported by Phayul.

The unusually worded letter from the embassy was heavily criticised by the politicians who had attended a reception conducted by Tibetan parliamentarians on December 22 last year.

( With inputs from ANI )