A number of monks also hold posts in the "government-in-exile", she said, adding that the current kalon tripa (chief minister of the cabinet), Samdhong Rinpoche, is a living buddha.

The "government-in-exile" wants to separate Tibet from China and restore its rule with political and religious power under the Dalai Lama's control, she said.

Both the 1963 constitution and 1991 amendments admit the supreme status of the Dalai Lama in the "government", Zhu Xiaoming, a research fellow with China Tibetology Research Center, said.

The 1991 edition of the constitution merely added such words as "freedom", "democracy" and "peace", but the two constitutions are fundamentally the same in seeking Tibetan independence, he said.

The Dalai Lama's backers' claim that they reign over "Greater Tibet", which covers an area of 2.4 million sq km in Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Gansu, is groundless, he said.

The Dalai Lama also practices cronyism when appointing officials, experts have said.

The Dalai Lama's second eldest brother, Gyalo Toinzhub, has held important posts in military, diplomatic and financial departments. Losang Samdain, the third eldest brother, is now in charge of the health section, while his younger sister, Jezuin Bai'ma, is the chief of the education department. His brother-in-law was "minister of security" for 18 years after 1968. And many of his relatives have held important posts in his "government", they said.

As a result of theocratic rule, internal factionalism, religious persecution and assassinations have been rife in the history of his exiled "government". Many monks have been expelled from monasteries for believing in different gods, they said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2008)