Itanagar [Arunachal Pradesh], 16th December: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Monday [16th December] said that Tibetans were aspiring for "genuine autonomy" and not for political sovereignty as "it was not not expected in the present context" .

Describing "genuine autonomy" as "a legitimate aspiration of the people of Tibet" , the Dalai Lama said "while defence and foreign affairs could be with the Chinese government, the rest should be entrusted to the Tibetans".

The spiritual leader, who was speaking at a press conference here in the state capital of India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh on the last leg of his week-long visit to Arunachal Pradesh, expressed his confidence that the Tibetan issue would be resolved " through non-violence and dialogue" . He said he had tried his best to establish contact with Chinese leaders on different fora, "but the present Chinese regime was not ready to give a positive signal" . He, however, added that "some of the top Chinese leaders had a positive attitude to Tibetans" .

The leader recalled that on 12th March 1979 his brother had a long discussion with the Chinese leadership and in 1987 he sent a five-point peace plan to the Chinese government from Washington for a negotiated settlement of the issue. "As and when invited I would response positively," he said.

Asked about the recent statement of some Communist leaders including Harkishen Singh Surjeet [Communist Party of India (Marxist)] on curbing his movement in India to improve Sino-Indian relations, the spiritual leader said there was an understanding long before with the Indian government that he would not indulge in any activity undermining the relations between the two countries. However, he maintained that the Indian leaders were entitled to express their personal opinion and he would not not contradict any such statement.