Gyalo Thondup, the older brother of the Dalai Lama And former president of the Tibetan government in exile in India, died this Saturday at age 97. It was the one who led several rounds of conversations with China and worked with foreign governments in favor of the Tibetan cause.
Thondup died on Saturday night at his home in Kalimpong, a mountain town in Himalaya’s choods in the Eastern state of Western Bengal, according to press reports. No more details about his death were immediately disseminated.
The Tibetan media accredited Thondup to establish relations with foreign governments and praise their participation to facilitate the support of the United States to the Tibetan struggle.
The Dalái Lama today directed a session of prayer by Thondup in a monastery in the city of Bylakuppe, in the southern state of Karnataka, in India, where the spiritual leader resides during the winter months.
There he prayed for the “rapid rebirth” of Thondup, according to the Buddhist traditions, and said that “his efforts towards the Tibetan struggle were immense and we are grateful for his contribution.”
Who was Gyalo Thondup, the older brother of Dalái Lama who died at age 97
Thondup, one of the six brothers of the Tibetan spiritual leader and the only one who was not prepared to lead a religious life, made India his home in 1952 and helped develop the first contacts with the governments of India and the United States For the Tibet.
In 1957, Thondup helped recruit Tibetan fighters who were sent to training fields in the United States in later years, according to a Radio Free Asia report.
According to RFA, Thondup was mainly responsible for establishing relations with the Indian government, including with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, when Dalái Lama escaped India in 1959. He also played a key role in establishing relationships of Tibetan leaders with US officials .
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Thondup began the conversations between Tibetans and Chinese leaders in 1979, in a turn of their previous strategy, which was looking for an armed struggle against Chinese Tibet control. The meeting laid the foundations for a series of formal negotiations between the official envoys of the Dalái Lama and the Chinese leadership that continued until they were suspended in 2010.
In an interview with RFA broadcast in 2003, Thondup said that neither India nor the United States could solve the Tibetan problem, and that progress could only come through face -to -face conversations with Beijing.
Thondup served as president of the Tibetan government in exile based in the mountainous city of Dharamshala, in northern India, from 1991 to 1993.
Source: AP
Source: Ambito
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