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Gyalo Thondup, Political Operator and Brother of the Dalai Lama, Dies at 97

Gyalo Thondup, Political Operator and Brother of the Dalai Lama, Dies at 97
February 9, 2025



Gyalo Thondup, the eldest brother of the Dalai Lama and a political operator in Tibet and the larger area, has died, the Dalai Lama’s place of work showed in a remark. He died on Sunday in Kalimpong in West Bengal, India, in step with Tibetan media. He used to be 97.“He used to be a just right guy who did his best possible for the Tibetan reason,” the Dalai Lama stated within the remark. “I pray that he’ll take a just right rebirth as a Tibetan once more and that he’ll be capable to serve the Tibetan management that may be a mixture of spirituality and politics over again,” he stated, relating to the Buddhist trust within the cycle of rebirth.A distinguished determine in Tibetan society and politics, Mr. Thondup has been known as the second-most influential individual within the small Himalayan territory, eclipsed most effective by means of his brother, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and head of Tibetan Buddhism.In combination, the brothers outlined a political technology in Tibet, the increasingly more remoted territory nestled within the Himalayas that has lengthy battled Chinese language affect and regulate. Whilst the Dalai Lama has incessantly been extra public-facing, dating international consideration and accolades, Mr. Thondup used to be noticed as a reserved, geopolitical operator who used to be extra relaxed clear of the highlight.For many years, Mr. Thondup advocated for paths to permit his brother — exiled since 1959 — to go back to the territory. He saved the corporate of global leaders, hoping to leverage quite a lot of stakeholders within the carrier of Tibetan independence.Considered one of six kids born to farmers within the Chinese language the town of Takster, Mr. Thondup served as a lifelong adviser and suggest for his more youthful brother. Despatched in a foreign country to check, he used to be the one considered one of his siblings no longer destined for spiritual existence.Free of non secular tasks, Mr. Thondup spent his existence operating for Tibetan autonomy, every so often extra aggressively than others.Mr. Thondup settled in India in 1952 and used to be an early mediator when the Dalai Lama fled there after the failed 1959 Tibetan rebellion towards Chinese language rule. Mr. Thondup would later name his brother’s secure passage to India considered one of his biggest achievements.Mr. Thondup would cross directly to domesticate probably the most first professional Tibetan contacts with Indian and American government within the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, asking for his or her make stronger. Within the Fifties, he aided the C.I.A. in an ill-fated try to arm Tibetan separatists towards the Communist Chinese language govt.Mr. Thondup periodically met with Chinese language leaders in efforts to ease Chinese language affect over Tibet. Whilst talks broke down in recent times, he instructed Tibetans to stick engaged.“It’s crucial for Tibetan other folks to not lose hope in pleading for our rights to the Chinese language govt,” Mr. Thondup stated at a information convention in 2008. He revealed an autobiography in 2015, “The Noodlemaker of Kalimpong,” about his lifetime of activism and the Tibetan combat towards Chinese language rule.The Dalai Lama led a prayer carrier on Sunday for his brother, his place of work stated.After the carrier, because the recitation concluded, the Dalai Lama rose from his seat, saluted a photograph of his overdue brother and returned to his dwelling area, the remark from his place of work stated.Mujib Mashal contributed reporting.

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