Tibet challenges world conscience, U.S. Speaker says

By Jonathan Allen

DHARAMSALA, India (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday Tibet was a challenge to the world's conscience and called for an international probe to clear the Dalai Lama's name in the violent protests this month.

Pelosi said the free world will have lost its moral authority to speak about human rights if it did not speak up against Chinese oppression in Tibet.

"The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world," Pelosi told a gathering of about 2000 Tibetans after meeting the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, the seat of his government-in-exile.

China's crackdown on anti-government protests in Tibet -- which it says were orchestrated by the Dalai Lama -- has drawn sharp international criticism and clouded preparations for the Beijing Olympics.

The Tibetan spiritual leader has denied encouraging the violent protests in Tibet, the largest in almost 20 years, and has even offered to resign as Tibetan leader if violence worsens.

Pelosi described the Tibetan leader as the "embodiment of non-violence" and said China's allegation that he was behind the violent protests did not make sense.

Nonetheless, she called for "an independent, outside investigation" to clear the Dalai Lama's name.

Hours after Pelosi met the Dalai Lama, about a dozen Tibetan protesters stormed the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, jumping over a spiked fence and then running around the high-security compound. They waved Tibetan flags and held up posters.