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DHARAMSHALA, INDIA - Pro-democracy Chinese activists will join Tibetan exiles in India to mark the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising in Tibet against Beijing's rule, officials said Sunday.
The Chinese campaigners have travelled to the northern India hill town of Dharamshala, where the Tibetan exile community is based, for ceremonies on March 10 commemorating the events that forced the Dalai Lama into exile.
"At least 30 members of the Federation for a Democratic China will join our peaceful programmes," said Sonam Dagpo, spokesman of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
The campaign group, which is based outside China and operates as a political opposition body, would be represented by Chinese members from across the world including Japan, New Zealand and the United States, he said.
"We welcome such solidarity with our peaceful means to resolve the Tibetan issue with China," Dagpo told AFP in Dharamshala, where the Dalai Lama set up base after fleeing his homeland in 1959 following the failed uprising.
"China should understand that we are not seeking independence and also that we are not against the people of China," the Tibetan spokesman said, repeating the Dalai Lama's policy to seek only "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet.
Police have been deployed in strength in Dharamshala due to fears that radical Tibetan groups could ignore appeals by the Dalai Lama for restrained commemorations.
India has long urged the Tibetan exiles not to use its soil as a platform for political campaigning. --AFP
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