Sixty four year-old Tibetan Jamyang Tenzin has embarked on a cycling journey from Tawang to New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to raise awareness over Tibetan issues and China’s occupation. Tenzin who has covered a distance of about 2387 km by cycling, has reached Bodh Gaya after cycling continuously for the last month and fourteen days.
Speaking to media, Tenzing, said that the purpose of his journey is to spread awareness about the Tibetan issue and the importance of Tibet to India’s security, especially in the border areas.
“It is important for India and the Indian people to think about Tibet and this is my goal to spread awareness”, Tenzin told media.
Tenzin said that he began his journey to spread awareness on September 27, which is marked as ‘Black Day’ by the Tibetan community. He said, “In 1987, in the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, a massacre took place. Many Lamas were killed there during a peace march and many young men and women were also killed”.
He said that in the context of the 37th anniversary of the massacre, he started his awareness drive to convey a message in India and the whole world on how “China is trying to destroy our Tibetan culture. It is trying to snatch away our children from parents, it is trying to snatch away young kids from the monasteries and sending them to China and erasing the culture”.
Tenzin said that “China is trying to destroy the Tibetan culture and the future generations of Tibet. I am going to spread awareness about this issue and I am going to visit the entire India”.
He highlighted that the areas covered by him so far include Sikkim, Kalimpong, Gangtok, Bengal, Assam and Jharkhand.
He told ANI that he would conclude the awareness drive at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
The Tibetan community has been facing oppression at the hands of the Communist Party of China which is systematically eroding the Tibetan culture and destroying institutions of historic and societal importance to the country for ‘sinification’ of China.
(with inputs from ANI)
