Monks on cycling mission

Nine monks are using cycling for the benefit of Tibetans in exile. The group began cycling from Varanasi, beginning an 800km journey through India on January 18 to raise awareness about the situation in Tibet. They had reached Delhi as of Wednesday and are bound for Hubli by March 10.

"From Varanasi they cycled through Lucknow, Kanpur, Aligarh, Karnal and Noida. At all these places they held lectures and distributed information flyers," said Tsering Dorji to the Thaindia News. Dorji, another monk, hosted the cyclists in Majnu ka Tila, a Tibetan settlement in north Delhi.

The group's leader, Ven Gangri, explained the group's mission. "We have four main demands. Firstly, release all political prisoners in Tibet including Panchen Lama. Secondly that the Chinese stop denouncing his holiness the Dalai Lama." Numbers three and four are "to stop the sanitisation efforts in Tibet by withdrawing the re-education programme" and "on the reincarnation issue, withdrawing the Chinese government resolution not recognising the reincarnation of the Lama".

The cycling monks range in age from 21 to 37. Gangri said the cycling is not strenuous. "We are all young. It is very easy and comfortable to travel in India," he said. They are assisted by a Scorpio vehicle which transports their provisions. The monks are being supported by the non-governmental organization, Tibetan Rights and Freedom Restoration Committee. An estimated 600,000 Tibetan refugees inhabit India after a 1959 uprising was ended by Chinese troops.