Tibetan leader-in-exile lauds youths for leading struggle to free Himalayan region from China

Austrian national Maximilian with a Tibetan flag attached to his hat joins exiled Tibetans at a gathering to mark the 55th anniversary of the failed uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959, in Dharmsala, India, Monday, March 10, 2014. The uprising of the Tibetan people against the Chinese rule was brutally quelled by Chinese army forcing the spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and hundreds of Tibetans to come into exile. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) (The Associated Press)

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A young exile Tibetan monk holds a Tibetan flag during a gathering to mark the 55th anniversary of the failed uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959, in Dharmsala, India, Monday, March 10, 2014. The uprising of the Tibetan people against the Chinese rule was brutally quelled by Chinese army forcing the spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and hundreds of Tibetans to come into exile. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) (The Associated Press)

Austrian national Maximilian, foreground left, joins exile Tibetans during a gathering to mark the 55th anniversary of the failed uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959, in Dharmsala, India, Monday, March 10, 2014. The uprising of the Tibetan people against the Chinese rule was brutally quelled by Chinese army forcing the spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and hundreds of Tibetans to come into exile. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) (The Associated Press)

DHARMSALA, India – The leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile says young Tibetans are leading the struggle to free their Himalayan homeland from Chinese rule.

Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay acknowledged it was not easy for them, being isolated from those who have gone into exile around the world, while those who remain and remember the 1959 Tibetan Uprising are aging.

The 1959 uprising in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa led to a bloody crackdown by the Chinese army, and the Dalai Lama fled with his followers to India.

Sangay noted 126 people since 2009 had set themselves on fire in Tibet to protest China's heavy-handed rule. Many have been Buddhist monks and nuns calling for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama.