With his repeated calls to Beijing for starting a dialogue getting no response, a frustrated Dalai Lama on Saturday lashed out against China saying the recent violence in Tibet region might be the handiwork of Chinese soldiers themselves, disguised as monks.

In a hard-hitting statement, the spiritual leader of Tibet, whom China has labelled as the “mastermind” behind the recent violent outbreaks in Lhasa and elsewhere, said he had knowledge that hundreds of Chinese soldiers had received the robes of monks.

“The picture in which a monk is seen holding a sword is not a traditional Tibetan sword. It is a Chinese sword. We know that a few hundred Chinese soldiers have disguised themselves as monks,” Dalai Lama told reporters here. Denying his or his followers’ involvement in the fortnight-long violence, which unconfirmed reports say has claimed more than 100 lives, the Dalai Lama said Tibetans by nature were a non-violent race.

On a day when about two dozen foreign diplomats, including those from the US, Britain and Japan, were in Tibet on a day-long Beijing-arranged trip, the Dalai Lama also called on the international community to persuade China to initiate a dialogue with the Tibetan people.

As the delegation of foreign diplomats was taken around in Lhasa, a group of monks staged a peaceful march from the Ramoche monastery to Bharkhor in the Tibetan capital to protest against the Chinese crackdown. “We ourselves have no power to ask China to come to the dialogue table. We only have truth and sincerity. And we are open for talks. But Beijing does not seem interested. That is why I appeal to the international community to help the Tibetans,” he said.

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