US wants UN to take up Dalai Lama succession: Envoy
Washington, Nov 9: The United States wants the United Nations to take up the Dalai Lama's succession in an intensifying bid to stop China from trying to handpick his successor, an envoy said after meeting the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Sam Brownback, the US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said he spoke at length about the succession issue with the 84-year-old Dalai Lama last week in the monk's home-in-exile of Dharamsala, India.
Brownback said he told the Dalai Lama that the United States would seek to build global support for the principle that the choice of the next spiritual chief "belongs to the Tibetan Buddhists and not the Chinese government."
"I would hope that the UN would take the issue up," Brownback told AFP after returning to Washington.
He acknowledged that China, with its veto power on the Security Council, would work strenuously to block any action, but he hoped countries could at least raise their voices at the United Nations.
"I think it's really important to have an early global conversation because this is a global figure with a global impact," he said.
"That's the big thing that we're really after now, to stir this before we're right in the middle of it -- if something happens to the Dalai Lama, that there has been this robust discussion globally about it ahead of time," he said.
"My estimation undoubtedly is that the (Chinese) communist party has thought a lot about this. So they've got a plan and I think we have to be equally aggressive with a plan."
The Dalai Lama once traveled incessantly, drawing huge Western audiences with his good-humored lectures on compassion and happiness.
But the Nobel Peace Prize winner has slowed down and earlier this year suffered a chest infection, although he is not known to have serious health issues.
Brownback said he found the Dalai Lama "quite jovial" and that the monk had told him, "'Look, I'm going to live another 15, 20 years; I'm going to outlast the Chinese government.'"
But Beijing has indicated it is waiting out the Dalai Lama, believing his campaign for greater Tibetan autonomy will end with him.
China, which argues that it has brought modernisation and development to the Himalayan region, has increasingly hinted that it could name the next Dalai Lama, who would presumably be groomed to support Chinese rule.
In 1995, the officially atheist government selected its own Panchen Lama and detained a six-year-old identified for the influential Buddhist position -- whom rights groups called the world's youngest political prisoner.
Mindful of Beijing's plans, the 14th Dalai Lama has mused about breaking with the centuries-old tradition in which wandering monks look for signs that a young boy is the reincarnation.
He has said that he could pick his own successor, possibly a girl, or even declare himself the final Dalai Lama.
The US Congress has also stepped up efforts, including by mandating visa denials by the end of the year for Chinese officials unless Beijing eases restrictions on US diplomats, journalists and ordinary people seeking to visit Tibet.
Brownback said he would like access to Tibet, "but I want it unfettered." He said he similarly hoped to visit the western region of Xinjiang, which has drawn intense US scrutiny over the incarceration of some one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims.
"It is part of the same war on faith," Brownback said of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Brownback also visited Nepal, historically the gateway for Tibetans fleeing to India but which has increasingly clamped down under pressure from its giant northern neighbour.
Brownback said he raised fears for Tibetans with Nepal's foreign minister, Pradeep Gyawali.
But he acknowledged Nepal's difficult situation and said: "I would hate to be very harsh on the Nepalese because they've been so good over so many years to help the Tibetans."
Brownback said that the burden was ultimately with China to allow freedom of movement -- and not to interfere in Tibetan Buddhism.
"A government doesn't own a religion," he said. "A religion runs itself." "We hope we'll get a number of other communities around the world to express similar positions and concerns."
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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's son Nishant to enter politics, says JD(U) leader
Patna (PTI): The entry of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's son, Nishant Kumar, into politics has been finalised, and the decision will soon be announced formally by the JD(U), state minister Sharwan Kumar said on Tuesday.
The senior JD(U) leader said Nishant will be given a "bigger responsibility" in the party.
"Now, it's clear, and it has been finalised that Nishant Kumar will join active politics. The party will make a formal announcement in a day or two. Party workers have been demanding Nishant's entry into politics for several years. Now party workers and supporters are upbeat with the decision ahead of Holi," he told PTI.
"He will be given a bigger responsibility in the party. What responsibility he is going to get will be decided in a day or two," said the minister.
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Asked if Nishant can be sent to the Rajya Sabha, Kumar said, "Anything can happen."
Kumar, who has been a minister in the state cabinet for more than a decade, is considered very close to the CM.
Social Welfare Minister Madan Sahni said JD(U) workers have been demanding Nishant Kumar's entry into active politics for several years.
"Now, it has been finalised. We are quite happy with the decision," Sahni, also a JD(U) leader, told PTI.
Rural Works Minister Ashok Choudhary said, "It is a big Holi gift for the party's rank and file and also the people of the state. Nishant's entry into active politics will certainly benefit the party. He is a photocopy of our leader, Nitish Kumar."
JD(U) ally BJP also welcomed Nishant's entry into politics.
"I welcome the new generation to enter politics. I thank the CM for leading the NDA in the recent assembly elections. It is a matter of great happiness that Nishant Kumar will now enter politics with the support of the CM and his family, and we wholeheartedly welcome him," Industries Minister Dilip Jaiswal told PTI Video.
"He is certainly an educated young leader, holding a BTech degree, and is a well-grounded individual. Every event happens in its own time, and perhaps now the right time has arrived. His entry should be warmly welcomed," said the former state BJP president.
Five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar will go to the polls on March 16. The last date for filing nominations is March 5.
The elections will be held as the tenures of JD(U)'s Harivansh Narayan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, RJD's Prem Chand Gupta and Amarendra Dhari Singh, and RLM's Upendra Kushwaha are ending.
As per the latest tally in the state legislature, all five seats would now go to the ruling NDA. However, the RJD has decided to field its candidates to ensure the election is not decided unopposed.
