DHARAMSALA: The Dalai Lama called on his people to remain united as the Tibetan community gathered on Saturday in a small hill town to mark 60 years of political asylum in India — although just one federal minister appeared at the event.
The “Thank You India” event had been scheduled for India’s capital, New Delhi, but was shifted to Dharamsala, a small town in the country’s north where Tibetans run a government in exile, as India tries to avoid a confrontation with China, which views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist.
Officially, New Delhi says its policy toward the Dalai Lama remains the same, and the Tibetan government in exile says it moved the event to Dharamsala out of respect for India’s foreign policy needs. India’s culture minister was the only minister present at the event.
“Today we are celebrating 60 years in exile and we are confident, and we can see how our future shapes up,” the Dalai Lama said at the event.
He emphasised the “strong bond between India and Tibet,” saying the two shared a “deep connection of culture and literature.”
China took control of Tibet in 1950 in what it called a “peaceful liberation.” In March 1959, the Dalai Lama, then 23 years old, fled to India along with his followers.
Then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru welcomed the monk and allowed him to make Dharamsala his seat. But the ties have weakened as India tries to improve relations with China and avoid a standoff such as a 73-day military face-off along a stretch of their disputed border last year.
“From Nehru to Modi, we have followed a one-China policy,” Ram Madhav, the general secretary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party said. The links between India and Tibet were “very little political but more spiritual, religious and cultural,” he added.
Earlier this month, India issued an unprecedented ban on Tibetans holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama also canceled a visit to the Indian border state of Sikkim this week, hosted by authorities there, officials say, lest it offended China.
That is in contrast to the Dalai Lama’s free movement within India, including the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as its own.
Lobsang Sangay, the head of the Tibetan government in exile, was critical of China’s Tibet policy at Saturday’s event.
“It’s been 60 years since China’s illegal invasion and occupation of Tibet, 60 years of destruction of Tibetan civilization, Tibetan culture and Tibetan identity,” Sangay said, thanking India for its support.
Dalai Lama calls on Tibetans to remain united as India drifts toward China
Dalai Lama calls on Tibetans to remain united as India drifts toward China
Germany takes delivery of Israeli-made underwater drone
- "The army said the Blue Whale was the navy’s “largest and most advanced unmanned underwater vehicle to date“
- The device was tested in the Baltic Sea
BERLIN: The German navy on Wednesday said it had taken delivery of an Israeli-made Blue Whale underwater drone intended for reconnaissance and detecting “hybrid threats at sea.”
The autonomous underwater vehicle, developed by Israeli company IAI together with German submarine- and warship-maker TKMS, was received in the northern port of Eckernfoerde, the navy said in a statement.
The army on its website said the Blue Whale was the navy’s “largest and most advanced unmanned underwater vehicle to date.”
The device was tested in the Baltic Sea, a flashpoint for tensions between Russia and NATO since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the army said.
Military experts and European leaders say Russia has ramped up its “hybrid war” in the strategic region — now bordered entirely by NATO members, with the exception of Russia — through airspace incursions and suspected sabotage of undersea cables.
TKMS said the Blue Whale was capable of “conducting reconnaissance operations, detecting targets above and below the sea surface, collecting acoustic information, and locating sea mines on the seabed.”
Israel and Germany have upped their defense cooperation in recent months and in January signed a security pact to expand joint work on counterterrorism and cyber defense.
In December, Germany approved a $3.1 billion expansion of a contract for the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile defense system, which is Israeli-made and developed with US support.
