Retirement does not mean dissociation from Tibetan struggle, says Dalai Lama

Days after the Dalai Lama announced that he is contemplating retirement in the next six months, the Tibetan spiritual leader today said the move does not mean he will dissociate himself from the struggle for free Tibet.

"More than 99 per cent of Tibetans in and outside Tibet trust me, so I have the moral responsibility to serve them. My call for complete retirement does not mean that I will forget the Tibetan struggle," he told reporters yesterday at Kalimpong in West Bengal.

"I am a Tibetan and every Tibetan has the moral obligation to carry out the struggle," the 75-year-old Buddhist monk said, adding that to resolve the Tibet issue would remain his top priority.

The spiritual leader's statement came following reports of Tibetans living in Tibet expressing anxiety and confusion over his retirement plan, the Dalai Lama's office here said.

The Nobel laureate had recently told a television channel that he would quit public life and hand over most of his political powers to the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile.