India raises Dalai Lama security after Chinese 'plot'
enior police chiefs in charge of his security are looking to buy chemical and poison detectors to foil any plot to assassinate him.
The Dalai Lama revealed reports of a China-backed conspiracy to kill him by Tibetan women posing as devotees seeking his blessing in an interview with The Daily Telegraph last month.
He had been warned the women would have poisons on their clothes or in their hair which would infect him when he laid his hands on them for a blessing.
"They would have said they were sick, to receive a blessing from me, and my hand would have touched them," he said.
His allegation drew a withering response from China which dismissed the claim as absurd, but it caused alarm among Indian security officials responsible for his safety.
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Despite being the subject of several threats over the years, including some from Tibetan dissidents who reject his non-violent 'Middle Way' to seeking autonomy from Chinese rule, he lives within a relatively relaxed security cordon.
His palace in Dharamsala, at the heart of a Buddhist temple complex, appears to be guarded only by a handful of unarmed security men and scanner.
Now, according to Indian officials, the Dalai Lama, who retired from his role as Tibet's political leader last year, will have his food tested by his personal doctor and be protected by new screening equipment to detect any poisons and harmful chemicals entering his inner sanctum.
"We are looking at chemical detectors to establish what kind are required. The information [of a potential poison attack] is from the Tibetan government in exile so we're looking at what technology is available. This particular threat emanated from Lhasa. They told us there was a threat of a chemical being thrown at him," said I.D Bhandari, Director General of Police in Himachal Pradesh.
India raises Dalai Lama security after Chinese 'plot' - Telegraph
