AFP
The Dalai Lama yesterday marked the 80th anniversary of his enthronement as the spiritual leader of Tibet, a position held almost entirely in exile and as a target of constant vilification by the Chinese state. Hundreds of miles from Lhasa's imposing 1,000-room Potala Palace, the sandal-wearing monk now ministers to his fellow Tibetan exiles from Dharamsala in the foothills of the Indian Himalaya. Though he remains the universally recognised face of the movement for Tibetan autonomy, Beijing accuses the 84-year-old of wanting to split China, and regularly refers to him as a "wolf in a monk's robe". His office said there would be no commemoration of the anniversary.
The Dalai Lama yesterday marked the 80th anniversary of his enthronement as the spiritual leader of Tibet, a position held almost entirely in exile and as a target of constant vilification by the Chinese state. Hundreds of miles from Lhasa's imposing 1,000-room Potala Palace, the sandal-wearing monk now ministers to his fellow Tibetan exiles from Dharamsala in the foothills of the Indian Himalaya. Though he remains the universally recognised face of the movement for Tibetan autonomy, Beijing accuses the 84-year-old of wanting to split China, and regularly refers to him as a "wolf in a monk's robe". His office said there would be no commemoration of the anniversary.