Washington: North American Tibetans have expressed "full confidence" in the leadership of the Dalai Lama and condemned the recent protests against the Tibetan spiritual leader in the US and the Europe.
"We state our full confidence and respect for His Holiness the Dalai Lama as our revered spiritual leader and symbol of Tibet," delegates of the 13th North America Tibetan Association Conference said in a unanimously passed resolution here.
"We express our deep concern and condemn all protests as well as groundless allegations against His Holiness the Dalai Lama by some followers of Dolgyal (Shugden), especially in recent months," the resolution, passed over the weekend, said.
North America Tibetan Association Conference said the Dalai Lama has never banned the worship of Shugden and this is attested by National Human Rights Commission of India.
"We strongly reaffirm our full support for His Holiness as the true spiritual leader and a guiding force of Tibetans and millions of people around the world," the resolution said adding that the Dalai Lama is an apostle of peace and an advocate for world peace and humanity.
"Therefore, the recent actions and allegations of the Shugden group has deeply saddened and hurt the feelings of the Tibetan people," it said.
There are 30 Tibetan Associations across United States and Canada representing near about 15,000-17,000 Tibetans and was attended by 21 of them.
Meanwhile Tashi Namgyal, Member of Tibetan Parliament in Exile from North America, in a letter to the Indian Embassy in Washington, sought addressing the visa issues being faced by the Tibetan community in the US.
"In recent times, some Tibetan Americans have been facing problems in securing Indian visa on time. We do understand that the Indian Government needs to undertake certain procedures to prevent undesired elements from entering the country," said Namgyal in a letter to the Indian Ambassador S Jaishankar.
"Therefore, I would suggest that your Embassy could use what is popularly called the Tibetan Green Book as one of the documents to prove the background of the Tibetans.
"This is a booklet issued by the Central Tibetan Administration to all Tibetans and they have a record of the details of the individual. You could ask the Tibetan applicants to submit copies of that booklet to facilitate the processing of their applications," Namgyal said.
