Zeenews Bureau

McLeodganj: In a bid to strengthen their fight for Tibet, Tibetans living in exile in India have demanded the right to vote and also contest polls, a report said on Friday.

Besides demanding Indian citizenship, Tibetans living in India, who have the status of "foreigners", also want to see their spiritual leader Dalai Lama speaking in Parliament.

The demands, raised by Tibetans in-exile attending a four-day special general meeting organised here by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), would be passed as resolutions on Friday, a report in a newspaper said. The meet, which ends on Friday, has witnessed more than 400 Tibetan participants from across the world.

The newspaper further quoted Sonam Dorjee, a member of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), as saying: "Once we get voting rights, we can strongly lobby with the Indian government to take up the Tibet issue with China. We want Indian citizenship just like the US and Switzerland provides citizenship in their country. We will be taken seriously by political parties and the ruling government only when we become vote banks”.

The participants further urged the Dalai Lama to visit Tibet following a series of self-immolations by Tibetans in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, 77, said the immolations, witnessed in Tibetan dominated areas of China, were a symptom of China`s repressive rule.