DHARAMSHALA: Canadian MPs met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s new representative for North America, Mr Kaydor Aukatsang, on Parliament Hill on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing repression in Tibet, Epoch Times reported.
Speaking about the meeting in the House of Commons in the afternoon, Conservative MP David Sweet raised the issue of Tibetans setting themselves on fire to protest against the repressive policies of the Chinese government.
“Imagine what it must take to set oneself on fire as a means of protest. The circumstances are clearly getting worse, but we do not hear much about it because journalists are prevented from reporting from the Tibetan areas in China,” Mr Sweet said.
He said Representative Kaydor Aukatsang updated MPs on developments in Tibet and that His Holiness the Dalai Lama continues to call for peace and dialogue with Chinese authorities.
Liberal MP Irwin Cotler said the fact that over 120 Tibetans have self-immolated is the ultimate cry of protest.
Tibetans’ non-violent pursuit of genuine autonomy, promised under the Chinese constitution, has been met with brutality, Mr Cotler said.
“While the Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks of transparency and the rule of law, the repression of political dissent, the silencing of independent media, and the criminalization of innocent Tibetans [has] intensified,” he said.
The MPs welcomed Tibetans resettled in Canada through the Tibetan Resettlement Project. “Tibetans face religious and cultural oppression in their homeland,” said NDP MP Peggy Nash.
Sweet, Nash and Cotler are members of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, a parliamentary group that works to raise awareness of the plight of Tibetans.
