In Pics: After 7 years, Dalai Lama sets foot in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang despite protests from China
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, set foot in Tawang for the second time in seven years as part of his visit to Arunachal Pradesh that has triggered strident protests by China on April 7, 2017.
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, set foot in Tawang for the second time in seven years as part of his visit to Arunachal Pradesh that has triggered strident protests by China on April 7, 2017.
The exiled Tibetan leader was to reach Tawang by chopper on April 4 but, due to bad weather, he had to travel over 550 km by road from Guwahati to reach here. He was accompanied by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu. The Dalai Lama, 81 , is visiting Tawang for the fifth time during his seventh trip to the frontier state that began in 1983. The Dalai's previous trip to Arunachal Pradesh came in 2009, when he stayed at Tawang for four days. This visit came exactly 50 years after his exile from Tibet. He was compelled to flee Lhasa in 1959 and cross over to India by foot via the Tawang sector.
Chinese state media had said on Wednesday that India is using the Dalai Lama as a diplomatic leverage to challenge China's "bottom line."
The Dalai's first stop was Bomdila, the headquarters of West Kameng district, from where Chinese soldiers retreated after the 1962 war. A day after delivering sermons in Bomdila, he spent two days at Dirang, about 40 km north of Bomdila, where he consecrated the Thupsing Dhargye monastery.
(With agency inputs)