Tibetans grieve over Polish president’s death
By IANSFriday, April 9, 2010
DHARAMSALA - The Tibetan government-in-exile based here Saturday expressed deep sorrow and grief over the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski in an air crash in Russia.
“We deeply express sorrow and grief over the demise of Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 130 others. We sympathies with the families of the victims and the people of Poland,” Thubten Samphel, a spokesperson for the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile, told IANS.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama met Kaczynski a number of times.
The Dalai Lama visited Poland in 1993, 2000, 2008 and 2009.
“The Polish president was a great admirer of the Dalai Lama and made it a point to meet him whenever he visited Poland,” he said.
The Dalai Lama, who is now touring Europe, was in July 2009 made an honorary citizen of Warsaw.
In Poland, the Nobel laureate is already an honorary citizen of Wroclaw and has an honorary doctorate from the Jagiellonian University.
In December 2008, the Buddhist monk attended ceremonies to mark the 25th anniversary of the award of Nobel Peace Prize to Polish labour leader Lech Walesa.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed Saturday with his wife Maria and 130 others including almost all his aides when their aircraft crashed in foggy weather while landing in western Russia.
