Dalai Lama coming to Manipur for global peace conference

Imphal, Sep 30 (IANS) The Dalai Lama is to visit Imphal, the capital of Manipur, on October 17 to participate in an international peace conference.

This was disclosed on Saturday by Yumnam Khemchand, the Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly during a brief public function.

Khemchand said that the Tibetan spiritual leader will grace a peace conference on October 18 which will be attended by religious leaders from some countries.

The Speaker said that during his last meeting with the Dalai Lama in the national capital sometime ago he had requested him to visit Manipur, which was readily accepted.

Khemchand made the momentous announcement on the sidelines of launching an e-bicycle in Imphal. He said this bicycle will help in protecting the environment.

When the Dalai Lama visited Arunachal Pradesh some months back in the northeast there were serious objections from the Chinese leaders who termed it as a provocation.

Highly placed sources told IANS that this time India is not anticipating this kind of provocative statements from the Chinese leaders since there is no territorial claim over Manipur.

Officials said that a large number of Buddhist monks from Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries are likely to visit Manipur on the occasion.

There is no travel restriction between Manipur and these countries. Traders and business people have been participating all these years in the government sponsored fairs and other functions in Manipur. Police said that security measures will be beefed up ahead of the visit of the Dalai Lama.