Spiritual leader reaches Leh, accorded warm reception
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/LEH, July 15: Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama today began his month-long visit to Ladakh and said India-China border disputes should be resolved through “talks and peaceful means” as use of military is an outdated option.
“India and China are most populated countries and neighbours. Sooner or later, you have to solve this problem (border disputes along the Line of Actual Control) through talks and peaceful means,” The Dalai Lama told reporters in Jammu before leaving for Ladakh.
“Use of military force is outdated now,” he said.
The Dalai Lama was accorded warm reception on his arrival in Leh. He is on over a month long visit to the Union Territory.
The spiritual leader is likely to take rest of a week before deciding his further schedule but only after medical advice of his team.
This is the Dalai Lama’s first visit outside Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh in the last two years as he was mostly confined to the hill station due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hundreds of people stood up on the two sides of road to welcome his cavalcade from Leh airport to Jivetsal Photang.
There is strong enthusiasm among the Buddhists in Ladakh over month-long visit of The Dalai Lama. People had been waiting for the visit.
The Tibetan spiritual leader reached Jammu yesterday and stayed here for the night before leaving for Leh district in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
In Jammu, he avoided a question on Kashmir issue and said, “It is complicated issue. I do not know about it”.
Replying to another question about objections raised by China to his visit in Ladakh, he said this is usual but Chinese people have not objected to it.
In a message to the world, The Dalai Lama said there is no point to fight each other. “The fight happens due to ‘my nation, my country, my ideology (thinking)’. That is too narrow-minded approach.”
He said people live together whether one likes or dislikes it. “These are little family problems too as all human beings are all brothers and sisters,” he said.
The Dalai Lama has been living in India ever since he fled Tibet in 1959. The Tibetan Government-in-exile operates from India and over 1,60,000 Tibetans live in the country.
A top Government functionary in New Delhi said the visit of The Dalai Lama to Ladakh was a “completely religious” one, and no one should have any objections to the tour.
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