The executive head of the Tibetan government in exile has called upon Tibetans scattered across 27 countries to remain “mentally” close to each other to preserve their identity.

His Holiness Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959, along with hundreds of Tibetans, and entered India following the Chinese invasion. For the past 66 years, the exiled Tibetans have been working hard to preserve their language, culture and identity on foreign soil.

“One of my responsibilities is to keep the Tibetan community intact wherever they are so that even though we are physically distant, we need to be close mentally,” Penpa Tsering said on Wednesday evening.

He is the sikyong or the executive head of the Central Tibetan Administration which is the Tibetan government in exile. Penpa Tsering was elected to the post by exiled Tibetans through voting.

The 1.3 lakh Tibetans living outside their country are spread across 27 countries. They are settled at almost 37 locations in India.

Tsering was in Darjeeling to interact with members of the community. Darjeeling and Kalimpong were the only places in India to have a direct link with Tibet through trade before the Chinese started to enter the Himalayan region in the early 1950s.

Around 7.2 million Tibetans live in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) at present.

In between two extreme polarities of a “repressive” Chinese government at one end and the “historical status” of an independent Tibet country, Thering reiterated that their efforts were to find a solution through the “middle way” based on current realities.