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Dalai Lama not for Olympics boycott

New York: Tibetan leader Dalai Lama does not advocate a boycott of the Beijing Olympics over the Chinese crackdown in Tibet, but says it is for the individual leaders to decide whether to attend the Games. “I wish, basically, their (China’s) world event, game event should take place smoothly. But whether you see individual leader, go down or not, that’s up to them. That’s individual right,” he told NBC television in an interview.

He replied in the negative when asked if he would advocate a boycott of the Games scheduled for August 8-24 in the Chinese capital.

Asked whether he would like U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders to boycott the opening ceremony, the Dalai Lama said, “That’s up to them.”

Referring to protests during the relay of the Olympic torch, the Dalai Lama said that after some “unpleasant sort of events” in England and Paris, he sent a message to Tibetans in San Francisco area not to create any violence.

Asked if his message was to stop the protest or only violence, he replied, “violence, violence.” — PTI

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