The New York Times

January 24, 2000

Tibetans Seek Young Monk's Asylum

By The Associated Press

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- A group of 37 Tibetan organizations on Monday urged the Indian government to allow an influential 14-year-old monk to remain in India.

The 17th Karmapa arrived in India early this month after fleeing Tibet. He has been living in a monastery near Dharmsala, the Dalai Lama's headquarters.

The Sikkim state's Joint Action Committee said Monday that the Karmapa should be allowed to live in the Rumtek monastery in the northeastern state of Sikkim, where his predecessor established the seat of the Karma Kagyu sect after he left Tibet in 1959.

Kunzang Sherab, the committee's president, told reporters in New Delhi that the group has receive no response so far from written requests and now plans to meet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to talk about the Karmapa.

``More than 90 percent of 450,000 people in Sikkim state are his followers,'' said Sherab, whose organizations were religious and cultural groups spread all over India.

The Indian Express reported Sunday that the Dalai Lama, in a letter to Vajpayee supporting a request by the Karmapa to stay. The Dalai Lama said the teen-ager was a person of immense spiritual significance and he should be allowed to go through traditional training by religious teachers in India. The Foreign Ministry and the Dalai Lama's administration refused to confirm the report.

On Monday, Chinese ambassador Zhou Gang repeated China's hope that the Karmapa would return to Tibet.

Deepak Thakur, an attorney for the Joint Action Committee, said the Karmapa ``fled Tibet to escape persecution and protect his life and liberty.''