Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama arrives in Switzerland's Zurich

Dalai Lama arrives at his hotel in Switzerland's Zurich (Image Credit: Dalai Lama website)

Zurich [Switzerland], June 23 (ANI): Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama arrived in Switzerland's Zurich on Saturday. The Dalai Lama received a traditional Tibetan welcome on his arrival at a hotel in Zurich.

His well-wishers and guests watched as the Dalai Lama walked through the hotel lobby. He greeted an old friend as he walked through the hotel lobby in Zurich.

Thousands of Tibetans and well-wishers with bouquets waited on the road to welcome the Dalai Lama as he arrived at his hotel in Zurich.

Tibetan artists performed traditional songs and dances as they waited for him to arrive at the hotel. He is scheduled to leave for the US for his knee surgery on June 23.

On Friday, Dalai Lama left for Delhi from Dharamshala to head to the US for his knee surgery. Many Tibetans gathered at the Kangra Airport to wish him well. Hundreds of Tibetans and devotees also thronged the streets to pay obeisance to the spiritual leader.

The leadership of Central Tibetan Administration, including Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, Deputy Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang, Tibetan Justice Commissioner Tenzin Lungtok, DIIR Kalon Norzin Dolma, Election and Public Service Commissioner Wangdu Tsering Pesur, Standing Committee Members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, and Secretaries of CTA Departments and Offices, gathered at Dalai Lama's official residence to see him off.

Earlier this week, a bipartisan US Congressional delegation led by Congressman Michael McCaul met with the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala.

Former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was part of the delegation, "strongly reaffirmed" Congressional support for the people of Tibet.

She also launched a broadside against Xi Jinping, stating that while the legacy of the Tibetan spiritual leader will live forever, the Chinese President will be gone in a few years.

Nancy Pelosi said, "His Holiness Dalai Lama, with his message of knowledge, tradition, compassion, purity of soul and love, will live a long time and his legacy will live forever. But you, the President of China, you'll be gone and nobody will give you credit for anything," said the former US House Speaker.

Pelosi said that the Dalai Lama would not approve of her comment against the Chinese. "When I criticise the Chinese government, he says, let's pray for Nancy to rid her of her negative attitudes," Pelosi said during the public felicitation programme at Tsuglagkhang Complex in Dharamshala.

The delegation comprised the Chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Michael McCaul, Nancy Pelosi, US Representatives - Gregory Meeks, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Nicole Malliotakis, Ami Bera, and Jim McGovern.

The delegation's visit comes after the US Congress recently passed a bill urging Beijing to re-engage with the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders to peacefully resolve their dispute over the status and governance of Tibet. The bill now heads to President Joe Biden for a signature to become law. (ANI)

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