Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Saturday that violence and animosity were in nobody’s interest and, in a veiled reference to the Kashmir issue, emphasised dialogue is the only way to address it and seek an amicable resolution.
He said he was quite happy to see that the situation on the ground is now better and peace is returning to Kashmir. “I’m told people here want to live happy life and I strongly believe that the basis of happy life is peace,” he said, adding that one should not harbour anger and negative feeling as it only takes away peace of mind. “We should overcome it, the sooner the better. Grievances, if there are any, can be addressed through dialogue,” he told reporters here.
Earlier, speaking at a public reception function organised by the Tibetan Muslim community here, the Dalai Lama said he was elated to find the Tibetan refugees and local Muslims are living “like brothers and sisters” in Srinagar ever since the former arrived in the Kashmiri capital from Tibet more than five decades ago and “have shared their joys and sorrows together”.
He lauded the “harmony and amity” prevailing between the two and expressed the hope that their relationship will get further strengthened and they will jointly contribute for the development of the state.
The Dalai Lama was told about the instances that suggest the Kashmiri Muslims behaved with the Tibetan refugees like the Ansars of Medina who extended every help to Prophet Mohammed and his companions on their migration from Mecca in initial phase of Islam.
The Dalai Lama, who is on a private visit to the Kashmir Valley, primarily to interact with the Tibetan Muslim community, also visited the Tibetan High School located in city’s Badamwari area on the foothills of Hari Parbat adjacent to the cluster of houses where the immigrants live.
They shifted to what is now also called Tibetan Colony a few years ago from city’s Idgah suburb. These Tibetan Muslims had fled Tibet in 1959 owing to Chinese repression.