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Saturday 27 December 2014

China police fire on Tibetans after self-immolations

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have fired on Tibetan protesters demonstrating after a series of deadly self-immolations by people from Tibet campaigning against Chinese rule of their Himalayan region, a rights group said on Friday.

A monk was shot in the arm after police used teargas and opened fire during a clash with Tibetans outside a police station in the western province of Sichuan, which borders Tibet, British-based Free Tibet said in a statement.

The group did not say when the violence happened and police in the area could not be reached for comment.

Human rights activists say China tramples on religious freedom and culture in Tibet, which it has ruled strictly since People's Liberation Army troops "peacefully liberated" the region in 1950.

China rejects such criticism, saying its rule ended serfdom in Tibet and brought development to a backward, poverty-stricken region.

Tibetans in Tibet and in other parts of China have in recent years been protesting against Chinese rule by setting themselves on fire after pouring petrol over themselves.

In 2012, more than 80 Tibetans staged such fiery protests, according to rights groups. Most of them are believed to have died.

The number of self-immolations has fallen in the past couple of years but a 37-year-old Tibetan monk set himself on fire outside a police station in Sichuan's Dawu county on Tuesday, the third fatal self-immolation in eight days, Free Tibet said.

A 20-year-old woman set herself on fire on Monday in Ngaba County in Sichuan, and last week, a 34-year-old men set himself alight in front of a police station in the western province of Gansu, which is also adjacent to Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

He has called the self-immolations "sad" but "understandable". He says he does not encourage them and has questioned their effectiveness.

China denounces the Dalai Lama as a separatist but he says he is seeking autonomy for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama told a French broadcaster last week that hardliners in the Chinese government were holding back President Xi Jinping from granting Tibet genuine autonomy.

Wednesday 24 December 2014

Tibetan nomad woman dies of self-immolation

BEIJING: A protesting Tibetan woman, Tsepe Kyi, died after immolating herself in Sichuan province on Monday, according to reports reaching here today. This is the third case of self-immolation among Tibetans protesting against Chinese rule to take place in this week. 

Human rights groups like the International Campaign for Tibet said the woman's parents and two brothers were taken away by the police. She was 19 or 20 years old, and came from a Tibetan nomad community. This is possibly the first case of a Tibetan nomad to die of self-immolation since the trend of suicides as protest began in 2009. 

Photographs and videos posted on Internet sites show Tsepe's charred remains on a sidewalk in Meruma town in China's Sichuan province, and two police vans removing them from the sidewalk. Cell phone and Internet access was blocked in the town, soon after the incident, reports said. 

She committed self-immolation at 2pm on Monday. Her parents and brothers may have been taken away for questioning by police because Chinese law makes it punishable not to report any knowledge about self-immolation. It is not clear if they were released after detention. 

The follows another incident of self-immolation by a 33-year-old man, Sangye Khar, who set himself ablaze outside a police station in Gansu, a province in north-central China, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet and US-funded Radio Free Asia, reported. 

The incident took place last week during the anniversary of the death of Tsongkhapa, who founded the Gelugpa or Yellow Hat school of Tibetan Buddhism in the 15th century, at a popular tourist destination, Xiahe. 

Another man set himself on fire in Amuqu township on Tuesday morning, and died "in protest against Chinese policies in Tibetan areas", RFA said, citing anonymous local sources. 

Tibetan protestors have been regularly using self-immolation to draw attention to their complaints about religious repression by the government since 2009. RFA estimates that at least 130 acts of self-immomolation.

Sunday 21 December 2014

H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama expresses concern over violence around the world

TUMAKURU: Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama on Sunday expressed concern over violence witnessed in parts of the world and said the best thing to stop it is to give value based education to the next generation. 

Inaugurating the International conference on 'Ethics in the New Millennium: Buddhist Perspectives' organized by Tumkur University and the Sera Jey Monastry of Bylakuppe, a Tibetan refugee camp in Karnataka, the Buddhist spiritual guru said that he was preparing a curriculum in close association US on cultural and educational system. 

"The curriculum would be ready in two years which focuses on improving students-relationship. Moral values and ethics on religion and spirituality will also be incorporated in the proposed curriculum," the Noble Peace prize winner said addressing the well attended delegation in the Tumkur University campus. 

Calling upon Indian varsities to give suggestions on the proposed curriculum, the Dalai Lama said the value based education can stop youth from going against the law of the land. It is important that ethics is included in university education so that the youth are driven in the right path. Parents will have to do more to inculcate good habits among the teenagers,"' he said. 

Citing India as best example, the spiritual guru said that in this country people of different communities and sects live together and the World should learn from it. "India is a small world in itself. Other countries can learn how people live peacefully in this country. Practicing peace will be all important," he said. 

Expressing concern over global warming, the Dalai Lama people need to be informed at the grassroot level and the governments should form better guidelines to safeguard environment. 

Law minister TB Jayachnadra and social welfare minister H Anjaneya attended the conference. Dalai Lama's last visit to Tumkur University was in 2012 where he was invited to inaugurate the International Conference on Yoga in Education. Tumkur University also conferred the Dalai Lama an 'Honorary Distinguished Professorship' in recognition of his service to humanity.