Encouraged by Dalai Lama, Tibetans "escape back" to homeland

DHARMSALA, India -- For nearly four decades, Tibetans have been making the treacherous journey across the Himalayas to escape Chinese rule taking refuge in exile with their revered leader, the Dalai Lama.

Now, the illicit traffic through the high snow-covered passes is increasingly moving in both directions. The Dalai Lama wants young, educated Tibetans to return to their homeland to keep Tibetan traditions alive.

The Tibetans go the way they came: on foot, braving frostbite and hunger, evading Chinese border patrols. They say they are "escaping back."

International human rights groups say China, which claims sovereignty over Tibet, flooded the forbidding Tibetan plateau with ethnic Chinese settlers and seeks to destroy the indigenous culture.

The Dalai Lama accuses China of committing cultural genocide and wants to negotiate autonomy for the land he ruled unchallenged until 1950.

Chinese officials deny trying to stamp out Tibetan culture and denounce the Dalai Lama and his followers as "splittists" bent on winning independence for Tibet.

Three years after leaving Tibet, 30-year-old Lakshan is preparing for the even more dangerous return.

"Our most effective resistance to the Chinese is to preserve our culture, tradition and language. There is no way we are going to physically fight them," said Lakshan, who has only one name.

"I'm 101 percent sure once I get back I will be in prison for at least a month," he said.

"Nearly everyone is arrested. But I've got no choice. I'm going back," he said.

-- AP/newsfinder news service