(ADDS warning on Tibet, background)

by Pratap Chakravarty

NEW DELHI, March 9 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, asked China Sunday not to use military force to crush a Moslem uprising in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

In a statement marking the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in 1959, the Dalai Lama said: "The military clampdown on Xinjiang and Tibet (would) never be able to suppress the people's urge for freedom."

He warned that the crackdown ordered by Beijing could lead to more violence in the troubled region.

"I will continue to counsel for non-violence, but unless the Chinese authorities foresake the brutal methods they employ, it will be difficult to prevent the situation from deteriorating further."

The Dalai Lama's warning to China came three days after Beijing unveiled legal amendments updating its Stalinist counter-revolution offences and introduced harsh laws to crush anti-Chinese campaigns in Tibet and Xinjiang.

The sweeping modernisation of the 1979 criminal law came after a spate of ethnic unrest in Xinjiang which led to the deaths of 10 in anti-Chinese rioting and another nine fatalities from bomb attacks.

In neighbouring Tibet, simmering anti-Chinese sentiment led to the bombing of central Lhasa on December 25 and a series of other, unconfirmed, bomb attacks.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after Beijing crushed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959 in Tibet with military force, also urged China to adopt "constructive policies" towards his homeland.

"China should adopt a constructive policy, towards Tibetans," he said and hoped in the post Deng Xiaoping era China will find "courage, wisdom and vision for a new opening to solve the Tibetan and the Xinjiang issues."

The Dalai Lama said he was "anguished" over the alleged closure of ethnic schools and monasteries and the influx of Chinese immigrants in Tibet.

"These measures amounted to cultural genocide," the Dalai Lama said at the Buddhist pilgrimage city of Sarnath in India.

Expressing his desire for a dialogue with the Chinese leadership the Dalai Lama said: "Beijing has been refusing to listen and recognise the genuine grievances of our people.

"We have no other choice but to present our legitimate and just cause to the international community.

"In recent times the people-to-people dialogue between Tibetans and Chinese is fostering a better understanding of our mutual concerns and interests."

The Dalai Lama said: "The growing sympathy, support and solidarity from our Chinese brothers and sisters for the plight and fundamental rights of the Tibetan people come as inspiration and encouragement for us Tibetans."

The Tibetan leader said he was concerned over the fate of Gendhun Chokyi Nyima, the boy recognised by him as the 11th Panchen Lama, Tibet's second ranking religious leader.

"His whereabouts are still not known," he added.

China controversially selected another boy as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, shortly after the Dalai Lama named Nyima as the true reincarnation.