$ Buddhist leaders' security

Shimla, March 30

The amount spent on providing security to Tibetan spiritual leaders - the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa - continues to be a secret. A legislator's attempt in the state assembly to get the information from the state government Wednesday proved futile.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal launched a scathing attack on the central government for not providing timely information on the amount spent on the two Buddhist leaders' security and said it has so far failed to reply in this regard.
"It's the inefficiency of the central government officials not to provide us information despite our repeated requests," Dhumal said while responding to a question of Kaul Singh Thakur of the Congress on how much money is being spent annually by the central and state governments.
He said as a number of central security agencies are also involved in their security, it is difficult to estimate how much amount is being spent.
The chief minister, while speaking at the chief ministers' conference on internal security in Delhi Feb 1, asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clarify whether the Tibetans settled in Himachal were "exiles or our guests".
"We will set up a Tibetan refugee unit in the state intelligence department in Shimla and a refugee cell in Dharamsala to monitor the activities of the exiles settled," Dhumal said.
The chief minister also requested the central government to fully reimburse the expenditure being incurred on security of the Dalai Lama and the 17th Karmapa Lama, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
"At present, only a small part of the expenditure is being reimbursed by the external affairs ministry in case of the Dalai Lama while the entire expenditure on security of the Karmapa is being borne by the state," he said.
More than 50 years ago, the Dalai Lama fled into exile and established his government-in-exile in Dharamsala. The government is not recognised by any other country.
A total of 27,542 exiles are in the state, mainly in and around Dharamsala.