DHARAMSHALA, India (AFP) — Tibetan exiles and supporters staged a symbolic 12-hour fast for peace in Tibet on Saturday as Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama joined in from his hospital bed.
The fast, which organisers said would be joined by supporters worldwide, aimed to highlight the "Tibetan cause" and push for world peace.
Thousands of Tibetan exiles and supporters thronged the main temple in the northern hilltown of Dharamshala, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is based, to pray.
The 73-year-old Dalai Lama, hospitalised in Mumbai on Thursday with "abdominal discomfort," joined in the fast from hospital after doctors judged him well enough to participate, aides said.
The Dalai Lama was due to leave hospital late Sunday, his secretary said.
"Doctors say he has no physical health problems except that he is physically exhausted" following a gruelling travel schedule, Tenzin Taklha told AFP.
The fast was intended to keep the international spotlight on the "Tibetan cause" after the Beijing Olympics, the Tibetan government-in-exile said.
Its prime minister Sandhong Rinpoche said it was an "extremely important non-violent action taken by Tibetans under the leadership of the Dalai Lama in a very critical period for Tibet, particularly the post-Olympic period".
"This is not a protest led by hatred, rancour and anger but by the teachings of the Lord Buddha to refrain from harming others," Rinpoche told the crowd in Dharamshala that included nuns and monks dressed in saffron robes, school children and foreign supporters.
Violent protests against Beijing's rule broke out across Tibet in March, sparking a heavy Chinese crackdown that has drawn global condemnation.
Rinpoche said the fast was intended to pay "our condolence and homage to those who lost their lives and those who were imprisoned, tortured and beaten in the recent uprisings in Tibet".
The event was also intended "to pray and sympathise for the victims" of the devastating earthquake that struck southwest China's Sichuan province in May, leaving nearly 88,000 people dead or missing, he said.
China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and "liberated" it the following year. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama has been pursuing a "middle-path" policy -- which espouses "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet, rather than full independence as many younger, more radical activists are demanding.
Still, China has vilified him as "mastermind" of what it called a drive to sabotage the Olympics and destabilise the country.
The Dalai Lama said ahead of the Olympics that he had been hopeful of progress, encouraged by the commitment of Chinese President Hu Jintao to begin serious talks.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Nepal, whose capital has been the scene of nearly daily anti-China protests, Tibetan exiles also observed the fast.
"Tibetans from Nepal would like to send the message to the whole world that all Tibetans want peace and freedom in Tibet," said Doma Tsomo, head of the Nepal Tibet Solidarity Foundation.
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