The Indian Government has come under increased pressure to let the young, high-ranking Buddhist leader, the Karmapa Lama, who recently escaped from Tibet, to remain in India.

A member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile in northern India has written to the external affairs ministry urging Delhi to make a speedy decision on allowing the third most prominent figure in Tibetan Buddhism to stay - and to resist any pressure from China to send him back.

Dolma Gyari appealed to the Indian Government "not to succumb to Beijing's pressure for deportation of the 14-year-old boy and his entourage".

"We are concerned about the safety and security of the 17th Karmapa," she told journalists outside the foreign office in Delhi.

"He may face a very difficult situation if he returns to Beijing because he is a defector," she said.

The Karmapa Lama has been placed in a secure location close to the Dalai Lama's headquarters at Dharamsala, in northern India, ever since his dramatic flight from Chinese-ruled Tibet.

Click here to see map of the Karmapa's route

Cautious reaction

The arrival of the Karmapa Lama, the third-ranking leader in the Tibetan religious and spiritual hierarchy, has placed the Indian Government in a difficult position.

China has warned India against any move to grant him political asylum.

Editorials in the Indian media have urged caution.

"The government needs to study carefully whether India can indeed afford to host a powerful Buddhist sect," The Indian Express said in its leader.

"In any case, it is high time that the West, which has actively espoused the Tibetan cause thus far, steps in to help the Karmapa Lama," it said.

On Wednesday, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said Delhi would seek talks with China should the Karmapa Lama request asylum.

And in Rome, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said a decision on granting asylum would be made at the appropriate time.

"We have not received any request [for asylum] and we will think about it when there is one," Mr Singh said.

The 17th Karmapa Lama is the only senior Tibetan Buddhist leader recognised by both the Dalai Lama and China, and his flight from Tibet is seen as a blow to China's religious policy there.

The Karmapa Lama arrived in India last week after an arduous eight-day journey by car and on foot across the Himalayas.

The teenage monk escaped his Chinese guards at the 800-year-old Tsurphu monastery in central Tibet by saying he intended to go on a retreat.

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