MEA officer sore at being kept in dark about visitors meeting Dalai Lama

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, January 29

The liaison officer to the Dalai Lama has objected to not being kept in loop regarding the people visiting the Dalai Lama at McLeodganj.

The liaison officer is an IFS officer appointed by the Union Ministry for External Affairs (MEA). The MEA has its office at McLeodganj that was established when the Dalai Lama came and settled here.

Sources here said officer Sidharth Malik has written to the MEA that the local authorities were not keeping his office in loop regarding the people coming to meet the supreme Tibetan spiritual leader.

The Dalai Lama, during his stay at his official residence in McLeodganj, meets people in the morning hours. The meetings with the Dalai Lama are screened by his office. The security of the Dalai Lama at McLeodganj was the responsibility of the Himachal Police.

Sources here said that generally police officials arranged meeting of certain VIPs without keeping the officer in loop that led to objection from the latter.

“Many times, we come to know from the media that certain people or delegations even from Tibet had come to meet the Dalai Lama. Since the sole purpose of the MEA office here was to liaise with the Dalai Lama, it should be kept in loop”, Sidharth Malik said.

Malik, however, added that he had raised the issue at the meeting with police officials and was now getting all information regarding the visitors coming to the Dalai Lama.

SP, Kangra, Santosh Patial, said the police were there to provide security to the Dalai Lama. The police had no role in deciding the people who wanted to meet the Dalai Lama. It was solely decided by the office of the Dalai Lama, he said.

Meeting the Dalai Lama and getting a photo clicked with him is the desire of most of the Indian and foreign tourists coming to McLeodganj and Dharamsala.

Despite his age and falling health, the Dalai Lama grants audience of hundreds of Indian and foreign visitors who express desire to meet him. The Indian VIPs use their connections in the local administration to get an audience with the Dalai Lama.

An official in the MEA, while speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was a well-established practice that their office had to be informed beforehand regarding the people wanting to meet the Dalai Lama. However, this practice has got diluted over sometime.