Dharamsala, March 7, 2013: As Tibetan people and their supporters commemorate the 54th anniversary of 'Tibetan National Uprising' across the world on March 10 this week, all Tibet support groups (TSGs) in India are going to organise a national public rally in support of Tibetan independence and the human rights of Tibetan people.
About three thousand volunteers of various TSGs across India will join this rally at Parliament Street in New Delhi.
The rally will be addressed by prominent leaders of a large section of political parties. In a similar rally last month at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, political leaders representing Congress, BJP, JDU, Samajwadi Party, Lok Jan Shakti Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal and students groups like NSUI, ABVP and Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha had participated in a massive rally to express solidarity with the Tibetan people's struggle for independence. Leaders representing these parties and organisations will address the rally.
This all India rally is of special significance this year for two reasons. It was 100 years ago in 1913 when Tibetan people overthrew the 4-year long occupation (1909-1913) of Tibet by the Machu regime of China and the 13th Dalai Lama, the ruler and supreme spiritual leader of Tibet, re-established Tibet as an independent and sovereign nation. Also serious deterioration of human rights situation inside Chinese occupied Tibet has so far lead to 107 self immolations by Tibetans against Chinese colonial occupation of their country.
This rally has been organised to draw the attention of world community in general and the government of India and United Nations in particular to give serious attention to the present sad status of human rights inside Tibet.
This rally is being coordinated by the Core Group for Tibetan Cause (CGTC) which is the umbrella organisation of all TSGs in India. These organisations include Bharat Tibbat Sahyog Manch (BTSM), Bharat Tibbat Maitryi Sangh (ITFS), Himalaya Parivar, Friends of Tibet (FOT), Students For a Free Tibet (SFT), Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet (HIMCAT), Antarrashtriya Bharat Tibbat Sahyog Samiti, Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), Youth Liberation Front of Tibet, East Turkistan Inner Mongolia and Manchuria (YLFTM), Ladakh Buddhist Association, National Campaign for Free Tibet Supports etc.
Another group of about 2,000 Tibetans will also join the rally later after their prayers at Raj Ghat and peace march to Jantar Mantar.