Tibetan PM-in-exile to tour Arunachal, Meghalaya

Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay will visit Tibetan settlements in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya Jan 26-Feb 4, it was announced here Saturday.

In between, Sangay will receive Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who will be inaugurating the Tibet Festival in Guwahati Feb 2. Thereafter, he will deliver lectures at the Martin Luther Christian University in Shillong and at the National Law University and Academy in Guwahati Feb 4-5, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) website said.

Official sources said Sangay would be accorded full state protocols.

Sangay's office here is keeping his visit to Arunachal Pradesh a low key affair because it is feared that this could upset China, which claims the region has historically been a part of Tibet.

Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is home to one of most sacred Buddhist monasteries. The Dalai Lama passed through this region when he fled to exile in India in 1959 after a failed uprising against the communist rule over Tibet. This apart, the sixth Dalai Lama was born there in the 17th century.

The government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala and is not recognised by any country. Over 100,000 Tibetians live in exile across India.