London [United Kingdom]: Amid the controversy over Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s purported viral video, the British Tibetans have condemned China and its agents for attempting to purposefully tarnish the Tibetan spiritual leader’s reputation and have also appealed to the BBC to provide “genuine coverage.”
The leaders of the group, Founder and Chair of Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities, Tsering Passang, Dalha Tsering (Tibetan Community UK-Chairman 2018-2020) and Phuntsok Norbu (Tibetan Community UK – Vice Chairman, 2018 – 2020), penned a Joint Letter to the BBC over the coverage the British broadcaster gave to Dalai Lama, over his viral video.
The Tibetan community also organised a gathering outside the BBC building, which is not so far from the Chinese Embassy. Phuntsok Norbu, Tibetan Community UK – Vice Chairman, 2018 – 2020, spoke on the significance of this immediate gathering.
Larter, Tsering Passang read out the trio’s joint letter to the BBC and a recent Statement issued by a group of Tibetan leaders and activists from around the world.
A group of former leaders of the Tibetan Community in Britain to the BBC’s Portfolio Head of Audiences, Digital on April 16, in the joint letter, stated, “As a world-class public-funded media broadcasting house, we were deeply dismayed that the BBC would give so much heed to a few seconds of ill-intentioned “doctored” viral footage, clearly masterminded by CCP agents with the object of defaming our spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”
They added, “We are writing to draw your kind attention that the Tibetan Community has been deeply hurt by the BBC’s recent coverage vis-a-vis His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his genuine compassionate greeting and interaction with an Indian student.”
“We would have expected that in being a respected world-class media house, the BBC would have proactively engaged in ensuring a credible, clear-sighted, and serious investigative journalistic piece, rather than running the story in the same manner of a sensationalist wildfire, as the rest of the tabloid media did,” the group of former leaders of the Tibetan Community in Britain stated further.
The statement added, “As you will know, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace laureate, is not only fond of the BBC, but significantly, he highly respects and values it for its authenticity, quality, and commitment to the truth. Even though repercussions from the recent coverage are yet to be fully known, it is evident that for Tibetans, aware of the playful and benign nature of His Holiness, that the BBC’s coverage and furtherance of such clear disinformation has been perceived as a collective betrayal and stab to our hearts.”
The Tibetans then moved to the Chinese Embassy to stage a protest and rally after the brief presentation outside the BBC. The protest, which was organised at short notice, drew more than 100 Tibetans from far-flung areas of the nation.
Speaking in support of the Dalai Lama, speakers also urged the public and media to comprehend the full context of what had occurred, what the Tibetan spiritual leader stands for, as well as his contributions to the world, rather than buying into China’s propaganda through its purposefully “doctored” video clip.
“This is clearly a deliberate attempt by China and its agents to tarnish the image of the Tibetan spiritual leader. They will also not succeed in their attempt to create a division between the people of India and the Tibetan refugees. They attempted this with the Tibetans in Tibet and the ordinary Chinese people back in 2008-09.
As followers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we firmly believe in our spiritual leader and nobody can create the division they desired and hoped for. The truth will come out in due course. We condemn the perpetrators for their malicious act against our spiritual guru,” Tsering Passang concluded his statement.
Earlier, a purported video of the Dalai Lama meeting a boy went viral on social media and drew outrage.
An official statement was also released by the office of the Dalai Lama after the video, stating that the Tibetan spiritual leader “wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused”.
