Nancy Pelosi to meet Dalai Lama

A US delegation led by Democratic Party leader in the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi will meet the Dalai Lama next week in this Indian town, an official said on Friday.

Seven US Congressmen are accompanying Pelosi, a long-time supporter of the Tibetan cause. They are Jim Sensenbrenner, Eliot Engel, Jim McGovern, Betty McCollum, Judy Chu, Joyce Beatty and Pramila Jayapal.

China views the Dalai Lama as a hostile element bent on splitting Tibet from China.

The Congressmen will be in Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, on May 9-10, a Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) spokesperson told IANS.

Besides meeting the Dalai Lama, they will meet CTA functionaries, including Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay.

Pelosi, who last visited Dharamsala in March 2008 as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, was a prime mover in the 2007 decision to honour the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal.

China had protested against the move.

"The CTA is honored to welcome the first visit by a high-level bipartisan delegation of the US Congress to Dharamsala and the second visit of Nancy Pelosi," Prime Minister-in-exile Sangay said.

The CTA is organising a public felicitation in honour of the Congressional delegation's visit. The Dalai Lama will grace the public felicitation on May 10 at the Tsuglakhang temple, located close to the spiritual leader's palace.

The Dalai Lama lives in exile along with some 140,000 Tibetans, over 100,000 of them in India. Over six million Tibetans live in Tibet.

The Tibetan exile administration is not recognised by any country.

--IANS

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