Asking Tibetans to show restraint, the Dalai Lama [Images] on Tuesday said he will resign as leader of Tibet's government-in-exile if the situation in Lhasa and its neighbouring provinces got out of control.

"If Tibetans choose violence in their agitation, I shall resign from the leadership," the 73-year-old monk told reporters in Dharamshala.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said that during "the 1987-88 agitation also, I had stated that if Tibetan people adopt violence, then I shall not be in a position to lead them and that there shall be no other alternative for me but to resign".

"Today also I say that if Tibetans choose violence then the only option is to resign," he said. The Dalai Lama, who rejected Beijing [Images]'s allegations that he was behind the violence in Lhasa and adjoining areas, said he was not in a position to tell Tibetans living under Chinese rule as to what they should or they should not do.

Secretary to the top leader, Tenzin Talka later said there was no question of the Dalai Lama stepping down as the spiritual leader and that he would have to quit as the political leader if the Tibetans choose the path of violence.