DHARAMSHALA, April 30: The National Council of Churches in India, at its recent assembly held every four years, adopted a statement on Tibet expressing the council’s support for Tibet’s “struggle for freedom against the occupation of China.”

The NCCI, which represents 13 million Christian people throughout India, further called on the global Ecumenical expressions like the World Council Churches to continue advocacy in appropriate forum for the freedom of Tibet.

“NCCI stands by the Tibetans struggle for liberty and freedom against the occupation of Tibet by China. The NCCI is deeply concerned about the denial of basic human rights of Tibetans such as learning their own language, promoting their culture, self affirmation etc.,” the statement adopted in the south Indian city of Bangalore read.

“NCCI while expressing it solidarity urges its member churches and the global Ecumenical expressions like the World Council Churches to continue advocacy in appropriate forum for the freedom of Tibet.”

Members of the Tibetan Parliament, Karma Yeshi and Yangchen Dolkar attended the pre-Assembly and the main Assembly meetings at the invitation of NCCI.

The Tibetan MPs raised issues related to Tibet, including the ecological crisis on the plateau, the lack of religious freedom and human rights issues at different platforms during the meetings.

Addressing a session on “Plight of the Tibetans,” the Tibetan representatives spoke on the Tibetan freedom struggle in exile and also presented a paper on the issue of Tibet, highlighting China’s illegal occupation of Tibet and the ongoing self-immolations in Tibet.

Later, the pre-Assembly adopted an eight-point statement on the issue of Tibet, to be presented before the main Assembly, calling for advocacy with the Indian as well as the Chinese governments, urging for the resumption of the Sino-Tibet dialogue process.

“To engage in advocacy with the Indian Government as well as with the representative of the Chinese Government and lobbying with other international and ecumenical bodies to urge China to resume dialogue with the Tibetans with the commitment and conviction to seek a lasting solution to the issue of Tibet, and peace and stability in the whole geo-strategic region,” the statement read.

The main Assembly – XXVII Quadrennial Assembly of NCCI, held from April 25 – 28, unanimously adopted the statements on Tibet passed during the pre-assembly.

The NCCI was further mandated to bring the issue of Tibet to the Christian Conference of Asia and World Council of Churches for their deliberations and necessary action.