The spread of Communism to mainland China in 1949 makes ‘Tibet Equilibrium’ core policy issue of all other countries. In terms of size, and geographical location, Tibet occupies unique position as ‘Balancer’ to maintain regional stability.
The spread of Communism to mainland China in 1949 makes ‘Tibet Equilibrium’ core policy issue of all other countries. In terms of size, and geographical location, Tibet occupies unique position as ‘Balancer’ to maintain regional stability.
THE EVIL RED EMPIRE – RED CHINA – NEOCOLONIALIST.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada
Special Frontier Force-Establishment 22-Vikas Regiment
TIBET AWARENESS – RED CHINA ON A SLIPPERY SLOPE: RED CHINA TRIED EVERY TRICK AND NOW HAS NO CHANCE TO SAVE HERSELF FROM DOWNFALL.
MAKE TIBET CORE ISSUE OF YOUR POLICY TIBETAN GOVERNMENT-IN-EXILE PRESIDENT TO INDIA
President of the Tibetan government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay
NEW DELHI: President of the Tibetan government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay today appealed to India to make Tibet a “core” issue of its policy.
Inaugurating a year-long ‘Thank You India’ campaign marking 60 years of Chinese “occupation” of Tibet and the Dalai Lama coming to India, the president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said the security of India “partly depended” on the “situation” in Tibet.
“We thank India for its support in past six decades to our cause and also appeal to it to support us politically and make Tibet its core issue,” he said.
Asserting that the Tibetans are in India because of the support of Indian government and people, Sangay said, “We are a success story and it has been a great journey, thanks to India and its people.”
The security and stability in China as well as India depends on the safety and stability in Tibet, he said.
Advocating good relations between India and China, Sangay, however, suggested his host country to be “cautions” of China’s expansionist policy.
“Sixty years back, we lost our country to Chinese occupation. We do not want other countries to face the same consequences,” he said.
Replying to a question on Doklam, the CTA president said that going to the United Nations could be one option for Bhutan who lays claim on the region where Chinese and Indian armies have faced a stand-off.
Sangay said that the ‘Thank You India’ campaign symbolizes gratitude of the Tibetan people towards their host country and it will begin with a interfaith meeting, which will be attended by the Dalai Lama at Rajghat on March 31 followed by a public event at Thyagraj stadium on April 1.
The year-long campaign will include events in more than 20 cities, including Bengaluru and Shimla, and will have initiatives like ‘Little Tibet festival’, ‘Green India’, ‘Healthy India’, ‘Feed the Hungry’ and ‘Clean India’.
The spread of Communism to mainland China in 1949 makes ‘Tibet Equilibrium’ core policy issue of all other countries. In terms of size, and geographical location, Tibet occupies unique position as ‘Balancer’ to maintain regional stability.
The Institution of Dalai Lama Represents the Political Rights of Tibetans to Self-Governance
The Institution of Dalai Lama stands for the Ganden Phodrang Government of Tibet which represents political rights of Tibetans for Self-Governance. The Seal that represents The Institution of Dalai Lama does not include the image of any of the Dalai Lama’s that ruled over Tibet for centuries.
In my analysis, ‘Institution of Dalai Lama’ remains relevant to Tibetans in Occupied Tibet. The Institution of Dalai Lama represents The Ganden Phodrang Government of Tibet, the political symbol of Tibetan Rights to Self-Governance. The Seal that represents the Institution of Dalai Lama does not include the image of any of the Dalai Lamas that ruled over Tibet for centuries.
Dalai Lama Says, ‘Institution of Dalai Lama’ No More Politically Relevant
Whole Ruler – Dalai Lama Represents the Political Rights of Tibetans
PANAJI: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Wednesday said the “institution of Dalai Lama” is no longer politically relevant and it was up to the people of Tibet to decide whether the age-old tradition should continue or not.
He said the Chinese government was more concerned about this institution than him for political reasons.
Dalai Lama is a title given to spiritual leaders of Tibetan people. This title is given to those who are considered among the most important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Addressing an event at the Goa Institute of Management, the 14th Dalai Lama said, “As early as in 1969, I had formally made a statement whether this very institution of Dalai Lama should continue or not, it is up to the Tibetan people to decide.”
Replying to students’ queries after an hour-long address, he said, “I have no concerns. Nowadays, the Chinese government is more concerned about the Dalai Lama institution than me. The Chinese government is concerned because of political reasons,”
During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama had fled to India.
He said in 2001, the elected political leadership was appointed (by the people in exile) and for the next 10 years, he remained in semi-retired position. “Then in 2011, I totally retired from the political responsibility. Now, the elected political leadership carries the full responsibility, I don’t get involved in their decision,” he said.
“Now, no longer Dalai Lama institution is politically relevant,” the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner said. About the future Dalai Lama, he said all leaders of different Buddhist traditions hold a meeting in Tibet every year in November.
“This November, we are meeting again. In the previous meetings, they had decided that when my age reaches around 90 years, then the group of leaders will decide about the future Dalai Lama,” the 83-year-old spiritual leader said. When asked about his own selection to the chair, Lama recalled, “According to my mother, the very day when the search party set by the Tibetan government reached my place… That very day our family was completely ignorant.” “But that very day, I was a 2-3-year-old boy… I was so much excited. I myself don’t know why… The search party got some indications that day. When they reached our house, I ran towards them and recognized each persons’ name,” he said. “At that time, I had some sort of some memory about past life,” the Dalai Lama said.
Institution of Dalai Lama Represents the Political Rights of Tibetans to Self-Governance
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia. China’s extensive dam-building would give it control of Southeast Asia’s rivers
People of Asia are slowly coming to grips with ‘Trouble in Tibet’. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet and dam-building to control flow of South Asia’s rivers is a security threat and it demands the use of military power to resolve Tibet’s Trouble.
Preventing a water war in Asia
China’s extensive dam-building would give it control of Southeast Asia’s rivers
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia. Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia. China’s extensive dam-building would give it control of Southeast Asia’s rivers
An Indian washerman works on the banks of the River Brahmaputra on a foggy winter morning in Gauhati, India, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES – – Monday, January 18, 2016
Just when Asia was getting accustomed to the Chinese threat to the oceans of Southeast Asia, there’s another water worry for Asians. The government in Beijing controls the health of six major South and Southeastern Asian rivers, the heart of life in the region. All of the rivers rise on the Tibetan plateau. The Chinese have been on an intensive program of dam-building on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra, the Irrawaddy, the Meman Chao Phya and the Mekong, which would give them the ability to control these arteries of commerce, as well as irrigation of rice and other crops, for vast areas downstream.
Snows are melting on thousands of glaciers, the largest concentration of ice north and south of the poles, repeating the ancient and constant cycle of change in the world’s weather. One Tibetan lake, Namtso, a holy site where pilgrims circumnavigate its banks in prayer, expanded by 20 square miles between 2000 and 2014. Tibet’s glaciers have shrunk by 15 percent over the past 30 years. Though subject to the whims of climate change, if melting continues at current levels the warmer temperatures could melt two-thirds of the plateau’s glaciers by 2050, and this would affect in unknown ways 2 billion people in China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The most dramatic example of prospective risk is China’s plan to divert the Brahmaputra from its upper reaches, where it flows a thousand miles through Tibet and another 600 miles through India, emptying into the harbor of Calcutta, the second-largest city of India. The Brahmaputra is the lifeline of northeast India, a troubled region with caste and other ethnic conflicts.
There’s concern in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia over eight dams under construction on the upper reaches of the Mekong River. The Burmese military junta canceled a dam under construction in Myanmar, formerly called Burma, one of six Chinese-led hydroelectric projects planned for the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy. These plants would have exported electricity to southern China.
Government and the business interests worry that China’s apparent intention to dam every major river flowing out of Tibet will lead to environmental imbalance, natural disasters, degrade fragile ecologies, and most of all, divert vital water supplies. The extent of the Chinese program is monumental — on the eight great Tibetan rivers alone, China has completed or started construction of 20 dams, with three-dozen more on the drawing board.
The Dalai Lama points out the obvious, that China’s dam-building could lead to conflict. He warns that India’s use of the Tibetan water “is something very, very essential. So, since millions of Indians use water coming from the Himalayan glaciers I think [India] should express more serious concern. This is nothing to do with politics, just everybody’s interests, including Chinese people.”
The Chinese program for the Brahmaputra is one of the issues which complicate the India-China relationship. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi blows hot and cold over the threat. Despite extensive contacts, Himalayan border disputes dating from almost a century are no nearer solution than ever, and water is one of the important irritants. Increasing penetration of the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, once dependencies of Britain, has become a new concern in New Delhi.
However, China has become India’s No. 1 trading partner — up to $80 billion in 2015, an increase of $10 billion over 2014. India exports mostly raw materials and imports mostly Chinese electronics and other manufactured goods. Economic relations are the usual guarantee that political and economic disagreements will somehow be sorted out. But not always. Keeping the peace if not necessarily tranquility between the Asian giants must be a priority of the U.S. government. A water war is in nobody’s interest.
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia. Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia. China’s extensive dam-building would give it control of Southeast Asia’s rivers
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia
Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia. Whole Trouble – Occupation of Tibet brings Trouble for Asia. China’s extensive dam-building would give it control of Southeast Asia’s rivers
From September 21, 1949 to September 24, 2026, The System of One-Party Governance in Peking remains as a Security Threat
From September 21, 1949 to September 24, 2026, The System of One-Party Governance in Peking remains as a Security Threat
On September 21, 1949 Mao Zedong revealed plan for One-Party Governance of mainland China establishing Single-Party System or Party-State. On September 24, 2026, the Communist Party of China continues to pose threat to Democracy, Freedom, Peace, and Justice in Asia.
On September 21, 1949, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong revealed Plan for One-Party Governance of mainland China establishing Single-Party System or Party-State. On September 24, 2026, the Communist Party of China continues to pose threat to Democracy, Peace, and Justice in Asia.
Mao Zedong outlines the New Chinese Government – September 21, 1949
At the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Peking, Mao Zedong announces that the new Chinese government will be “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.”
The September 1949 conference in Peking was both a celebration of the communist victory in the long civil war against Nationalist Chinese forces and the unveiling of the communist regime that would henceforth rule over China. Mao and his communist supporters had been fighting against what they claimed was a corrupt and decadent Nationalist government in China since the 1920s. Despite massive U.S. support for the Nationalist regime, Mao’s forces were victorious in 1949 and drove the Nationalist government onto the island of Taiwan. In September, with cannons firing salutes and ceremonial flags waving, Mao announced the victory of communism in China and vowed to establish the constitutional and governmental framework to protect the “people’s revolution.”
In outlining the various committees and agencies to be established under the new regime, Mao announced that “Our state system of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship is a powerful weapon for safeguarding the fruits of victory of the people’s revolution and for opposing plots of foreign and domestic enemies to stage a comeback. We must firmly grasp this weapon.” He denounced those who opposed the communist government as “imperialistic and domestic reactionaries.” In the future, China would seek the friendship of “the Soviet Union and the new democratic countries.” Mao also claimed that communism would help end reputation as a lesser-developed country. “The era in which the Chinese were regarded as uncivilized is now over. We will emerge in the world as a highly civilized nation.” On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China was formally announced, with Mao Zedong as its leader. He would remain in charge of the nation until his death in 1976.
On September 21, 1949, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong revealed Plan for One-Party Governance of mainland China establishing Single-Party System or Party-State. On September 24, 2026, the Communist Party of China continues to pose threat to Democracy, Peace, and Justice in Asia.On September 21, 1949, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong revealed Plan for One-Party Governance of mainland China establishing Single-Party System or Party-State. On September 24, 2026, the Communist Party of China continues to pose threat to Democracy, Peace, and Justice in Asia.On September 21, 1949, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong revealed Plan for One-Party Governance of mainland China establishing Single-Party System or Party-State. On September 24, 2026, the Communist Party of China continues to pose threat to Democracy, Peace, and Justice in Asia.
I express my serious concerns on use of torture and the practice of forced confessions that are prevalent all across Red China including Occupied Tibet.
I express my serious concerns on use of torture and the practice of forced confessions that are prevalent all across Red China including Occupied Tibet.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA Special Frontier Force-Establishment 22-Vikas Regiment
Amnesty: China uses medieval torture techniques against opponents
Friday, 20 November 2015 16:45 Garima Pura, Tibet Post International
I express my serious concerns on use of torture and the practice of forced confessions that are prevalent all across Red China including Occupied Tibet.
London — The Amnesty International published a report – ‘No End in Sight: Torture and Forced Confessions in China’ based on 40 interviews with Chinese Human Rights Lawyers documenting brutal treatment of those taken into police custody.
Details of using medieval torture techniques against government opponents, activists, lawyers and petitioners including spiked rods, iron torture chairs and electric batons was documented in the report.
Patrick Poon, the report’s author, said that despite government pledged to reform, Amnesty had recently documented cases of torture in virtually every corner of the country. “From Beijing to Hunan to Heilongjiang to Guangdong – there are cases of torture in many, many places. The problem is still very widespread in different provinces. It isn’t just concentrated in a certain area of China,” he said.
Poon said most of those targeted were human rights lawyers, Communist party officials taken into custody by anti-corruption investigators, and practitioners of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong by a Taoist-Buddhist sect.
One of the most shocking cases described in the report was of Cai Ying, a 52-year-old human rights lawyer from Hunan province. Cai claimed that after being detained in 2012 he was forced to sit on a “hanging restraint chair” – a contraption that immobilizes a prisoner by dangling them in the air with their hands and chest strapped to a board.
In a recent interview with Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Cai recalled excruciating torture sessions. “I was humiliated so badly I thought of ending it all, but then I thought of my daughter,” he said. “The humiliating experience filled my heart with hatred.”
Yu Wensheng, another lawyer, said that after being detained last October for protesting outside a detention centre where a client was being held, he spent more than three months in custody suffering torture.
Yu claimed he was held with death row inmates for 61 days, during which he was questioned about 200 times. At one point officers handcuffed him to an iron chair with his hands behind his back.”My hands were swollen and I felt so much pain that I didn’t want to live,” he was quoted as saying. “The two police officers repeatedly yanked the handcuffs. I screamed every time they pulled them.”Yu described the despair of his time behind bars. “I felt helpless and lonely,” he said. “It is both physical and psychological suffering. I don’t think I could bear going back to jail for a long stretch again. If I get sent back to jail again, I will go on hunger strike – I would rather die than face a long spell in jail.”
However, Amnesty said such reforms had “in reality done little to change the deep-rooted practice of torturing suspects to extract forced confessions”. Chinese law outlawed only certain acts of torture and did not cover acts of mental torture, the group said. Lawyers trying to investigate or seek redress for such cases were “systematically thwarted by police, prosecutors and the courts”.
Human rights activists believe the situation has deteriorated since President Xi Jinping took control of the Communist party three years ago. Xi, who some describe as China’s most authoritarian ruler since Mao, has tasked the country’s security apparatus with countering any potential source of opposition to the party.
Political prisoners in occupied Tibet suffers equally inhumane if not graver means and methods of torture while in custody such as electric shocks and ice beds as recounted in former political prisoner Ven. Bagdro’s autobiography ‘Hell on Earth’ and attested by a long list of Tibetans who have had similar experiences.
A renewed crackdown on human rights lawyers has been under way since July, and at least 12 people – including the prominent rights lawyers Wang Yu, Li Heping and Zhang Kai – are still being held in undisclosed locations on state security charges. Activists fear those prisoners are likely to be suffering psychological and possibly physical torture.
Asked to comment on the Amnesty report, a foreign ministry spokesman said China was working to bring “fairness and justice” to all.
I express my serious concerns on use of torture and the practice of forced confessions that are prevalent all across Red China including Occupied Tibet.
Tibet Consciousness – The Politics of Religious Festivals
Red China orchestrates the observance of a few religious festivals to manipulate Tibetans to adapt a lifestyle in which State controls religious traditions of people.
In Occupied Tibet, Red China uses religion as a political weapon or tool to extend her Colonialist domination of Tibet and to subjugate Tibetans. Red China encourages religious groups such as Shugden and the followers of Communist Panchen Lama to counter the influence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the true representative of Tibetan Identity. Red China orchestrates the observance of a few religious festivals to manipulate Tibetans to adapt a lifestyle in which State controls religious traditions of people.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA Special Frontier Force-Establishment 22-Vikas Regiment
TIMES OF INDIA
In Tibet, festivals serve a political purpose
Edward Wong Horse festivals on the Tibetan plateau are not just about equestrian prowess — they are political affairs with a propaganda goal for China. | NYT News Service | Dec 20, 2015, 11.02 AM IST
Red China orchestrates the observance of a few religious festivals to manipulate Tibetans to adapt a lifestyle in which State controls religious traditions of people.
Tibetan horsemen display their skills at a government-organized horse festival in Yushu, China, July 26, 2015….
BATANG GRASSLANDS, Tibet: Women came in finery, wearing bright silk dresses, silver belts and necklaces with turquoise and coral. Men sauntered across the field in boots and cowboy hats. Some nomads had ridden motorcycles for days from valleys in Sichuan Province.
They came to this green-carpeted plain for the annual Tibetan horse festival, three days of horse racing, yak riding and archery.
But Tibet being Chinese-ruled Tibet, the Himalayan rodeo also had a display of martial force.
On the second morning, between races beneath an azure sky, two dozen ethnic Han members of a Chinese paramilitary unit marched through the middle of the race grounds. They held batons and wore helmets and black body armor over green camouflage fatigues. An officer with a walkie-talkie barked orders.
As they walked once around the oval track, the mostly Tibetan audience stayed quiet. Then the soldiers marched off. Minutes later, the next race began, with young jockeys clinging to galloping steeds that kicked up clouds of dust.
Tibetan people watch an acrobatics show at a government-organized horse festival in Yushu, China. (NYT photo)
These days, horse festivals on the Tibetan plateau are not just about equestrian prowess. They are political affairs with a propaganda goal — Chinese officials hold them to signal to people here and abroad that traditional Tibetan culture is thriving, contrary to what the Dalai Lama and other critics say.
The image of Tibetans showcased by the festival is one that China has long promoted of its ethnic minorities, that of dancing, singing, happy-go-lucky, costume-wearing, loyal citizens of the nation. But there are dissonant notes, including the presence of Han soldiers, who have been posted to horse festivals across the plateau since a Tibetan rebellion in 2008.
“Many people might think Tibet is developing well and in the right direction after watching the horse race,” said Tashi Wangchuk, 30, a businessman in Yushu who is fighting to preserve Tibetan culture. “The government holds this kind of big horse-racing festival to advertise Tibetan people’s lifestyle to the outside world — that our life is very happy and joyful.”
Red China orchestrates the observance of a few religious festivals to manipulate Tibetans to adapt a lifestyle in which State controls religious traditions of people.
Men perform traditional Tibetan dances at a government-organized horse festival in Yushu. (NYT photo)
The government promotes this image, he said, even as it restricts the teaching of Tibetan language, tries to control Buddhism and presses Tibetans to assimilate into the dominant Han culture.
“So much of our lives is controlled by the government,” said a Tibetan man from Sichuan. “This festival is no different.”
The festival here celebrates the Kham culture of eastern Tibet. Kham, a region of valleys, ravines and hillside monasteries, was traditionally home to Tibet’s fiercest warriors. Although they were conquered in 1950 by the People’s Liberation Army, the people of Kham have remained feisty. Many took part in the 2008 uprising that spread from Lhasa across the plateau, and there have been self-immolations protesting Chinese rule in recent years. On July 9, only two weeks before the horse festival, a young monk in Yushu died after setting fire to himself.
The first of the recent government-run Kham festivals was held in the Yushu area of Qinghai Province in 1994 in an effort to “establish Khampa culture as an international brand, to continue the traditional friendship and to promote mutual development,” according to an official Yushu County news website.
Four counties took turns hosting it every four years. Recently, they began holding the festival annually, with Yushu hosting it both last year and this year, in part to show that the town has recovered from a 2010 earthquake that killed at least 3,000 people.
The opening ceremony was held in town. Most residents could not get tickets because the event was limited to officials and government employees. Mr. Tashi said that had been the case last year, too.
“In this way, they ensure that only reliable people can go,” he said.
The grasslands where the main events were held are by an airport about a half-hour drive south of Yushu. On the road there, Chinese flags fluttered from posts, and President Xi Jinping smiled at travelers from a billboard.
Many people drove motorcycles or sport-utility vehicles. Some held tailgate parties in the parking fields. Entrepreneurs sold steamed buns, watermelon slices, bottled water and yak meat from the backs of their cars.
In the crowd, too, were monks liberated that day from the obligations of monastery rituals. “You don’t want to miss it,” said one, Phuntsok.
There were dance performances daily. The number that closed the first day’s events featured a wide circle of dancing Khampa men who wore traditional black robes and red tassels in their hair. The same men returned for a campfire performance at the festival’s end.
Horse acrobatics on Day 2 opened with a Khampa man on a galloping horse holding aloft the red flag of the People’s Republic. Tibetan music played over loudspeakers. Other riders followed, one by one. Some shot at a bull’s-eye with a rifle while on a moving horse; others bent to the ground to pick up a white scarf as they raced past.
Most of the announcements were made by a woman speaking Chinese rather than Tibetan, even though the only ethnic Han attending were a handful of journalists, photographers and tourists. They were ushered to front-row seats so they could get good photos.
Wrestling matches had been scheduled next. But in the late afternoon, an announcer said the event had been canceled. People jeered.
“They treat us like their children, but this is our land,” one man said.
Police officers in black uniforms, most of them Tibetan, told spectators to go home and pointed to the main road back to town, which soon began filling with cars.
Lian Xiangmin, a senior researcher at the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, said in an interview later that “there is nothing traditional about this horse festival,” adding, “It’s a tourism event organized by local governments.”
In the early days of Communist rule, horse festivals were local affairs that had minimal government input, if any, said Tsering Woeser, a Tibetan writer. During the decade-long Cultural Revolution that began in 1966, the festivals shut down. When that period ended, local governments revived the festivals and maintained control over many.
“The political connotation of the government-held festivals was very strong,” Ms. Woeser said. “For example, the once-famous horse festival in Litang was chosen to be held on Aug. 1, which is the day to celebrate the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.”
The Litang festival in Sichuan has been canceled since 2007, when a former nomad and father of 11, Runggye Adak, delivered an impromptu speech at the festival calling for the return of the Dalai Lama. Police officers later arrested him, and only this July was he released.
“From the outside, if people see there’s such a horse festival or event, the world thinks this area is very open and free,” Mr. Tashi said. “But it’s not like that.”
Red China orchestrates the observance of a few religious festivals to manipulate Tibetans to adapt a lifestyle in which State controls religious traditions of people.
DEATH AND MISERY IN OCCUPIED TIBET. EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING OF TIBETAN WOMAN NEAR CHALONG TOWNSHIP. What happened on the grasslands near Chalong in Garze prefecture fits a disturbing pattern. More than six decades after Chinese troops first moved into Tibet, dissent continues to roil the plateau and, if anything, is being suppressed ever more savagely.Death and Misery in Occupied Tibet: Tsering Tso’s grandmother, Lhadhey, 83, and mother Adhey, 49, pose for a photograph in Jiqie No. 2 Village on the grasslands outside Chalong township in China’s western Sichuan province. (Xu Yangjingjing/The Washington Post)
A woman’s gruesome death by hanging portrays the reality of Death and Misery in Occupied Tibet. What happened on the grasslands near Chalong in Garze prefecture fits a disturbing pattern. More than six decades after Chinese troops first moved into Tibet, dissent continues to roil the plateau and, if anything, is being suppressed ever more savagely.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA Special Frontier Force-Establishment 22-Vikas Regiment
Tibet Awareness – History of Tibet’s Unrest. Map of Peaceful Protests 2008. Most of the self-immolations and the worst cases of historical repression are in the same spots in the Tibetan provinces near China.
A woman’s gruesome hanging shocked Tibet — but police have silenced all questions
By SIMON DENYER August 26, 2016
Death and Misery in Occupied Tibet: Tsering Tso’s grandmother, Lhadhey, 83, and mother Adhey, 49, pose for a photograph in Jiqie No. 2 Village on the grasslands outside Chalong township in China’s western Sichuan province. (Xu Yangjingjing/The Washington Post)
JIQIE NO. 2 VILLAGE, Raghya, Tibet — She was 27, a kind, hard-working woman who supported her family by herding yaks and harvesting caterpillar fungus, a prized health cure, on the high grasslands of Tibet. Last October, Tsering Tso was found hanged from a bridge in a small town near her home.
Her family and local villagers gathered outside the police station in Chalong township to demand answers: She had last been seen in the company of a local Buddhist priest and two policemen.
The authorities insisted it was suicide. Family and friends suspected foul play and demanded an investigation. That night and the following morning, an angry crowd stormed the gates of the police station, smashing windows, according to local police.
The authorities’ response was brutal, revealing much about the crackdown taking place in Tibetan parts of China and showing how unrest and unhappiness is increasingly viewed as dangerously subversive.
On Oct. 10, five days after Tsering Tso’s body was found, hundreds of armed soldiers arrived in the town and descended on her funeral ceremony in the remote hamlet known as Jiqie No. 2 Village in Chinese and Raghya in Tibetan, in China’s western Sichuan province.
Witnesses said that more than 40 people were tied up, beaten with metal clubs, piled into a truck “like corpses” and placed in detention.
So much blood was shed that “stray dogs could not finish lapping it up,” according to a remarkable and rare open letter sent by the community to President Xi Jinping asking for justice. Most of those detained were gradually released in the weeks and months that followed, and although no one died, many went straight to the hospital.
But on May 20, five relatives and family friends were sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Acquaintances say they were jailed for refusing to sign a statement absolving the police of blame for Tsering Tso’s death.
In a statement issued on its social-media account, the Garze county Public Security Bureau contested that version of events. It said some of the protesters had carried knives, iron pipes or stones and had caused nearly $10,000 worth of damage. The bureau ran photographs of several men climbing over a gate, but only two broken windows were shown. The jailed men, the statement said, had either carried weapons or organized the protest and had been found guilty of “assembling a crowd to attack state organs.”
But relatives who spoke to The Washington Post outside the family’s tent on the remote grasslands said they were not convinced that any investigation had been carried out.
No one denied that a few stones had been thrown during the protest, hitting a police car and office building. But they said that as a result, their entire community had been accused of “splittism” — a serious crime implying support for the Dalai Lama, the exiled religious leader, or for Tibet’s independence from China.
Internet connections have been cut off in Chalong township since the incident, and relatives of Tsering Tso have been threatened with further punishment if they talk to outsiders. The village — a scattering of tents and yaks in a scenic, sweeping grassland valley — has been told it will not get government subsidies for roads or houses for three years because of its “bad character.”
The family insisted that its demands were not political or ethnic in nature: The priest and policemen last seen with Tsering Tso were local Tibetans, and the family said it had no beef with the central government.
All the family wants, it said, is a proper investigation, justice for Tsering Tso and freedom for the five men in jail.
“My daughter was healthy and happy. She wouldn’t commit suicide,” her 49-year-old mother Adhey said, fighting back tears as she sat on the grass with her 83-year-old mother and two young sons. “My beloved daughter was murdered without any justice being given by the government. Instead, they simply arrested more innocent people and sent them to jail.”
What happened on the grasslands near Chalong in Garze prefecture fits a disturbing pattern. More than six decades after Chinese troops first moved into Tibet, dissent continues to roil the plateau and, if anything, is being suppressed ever more savagely.
Control and surveillance have been dramatically tightened since riots and demonstrations broke out in Tibet in 2008, and then expanded further under Xi, with tens of thousands of party cadres sent to monitor villages and monasteries, according to a January report by the International Campaign for Tibet.
In a May report, Human Rights Watch catalogued nearly 500 arrests across Tibetan parts of China between 2013 and 2015. It concluded that dissent had spread from urban to rural areas. Whereas the vast majority of arrests in the 1980s and 1990s had been of monks and nuns, most of those detained more recently were ordinary people.
Many “had merely exercised their rights to expression and assembly without advocating separatism” — criticizing local officials, for example, or opposing a mining development, the report said.
Yet even relatively mild protests about poor governance are increasingly seen through a political lens and labeled as “criminal acts,” rights groups say. Punishment can be severe. The incident in Chalong “reflects the unrest and instability in Tibetan society,” said Golog Jigme, a filmmaker and former political prisoner who now lives in exile in Switzerland. “It’s not outsiders or the Dalai Lama stirring things up, it’s social issues.”
On the evening of Oct. 4, 2015, Tsering Tso had received a phone call from her boyfriend, a lama at the Gertse Dralak monastery in Chalong. He said he was ill and wanted to see her. Her father gave her a lift, only to find the lama drinking with two policemen. He left her there. The following morning, Tsering Tso’s body was found hanging from a small bridge in the town. Although police say an autopsy listed the cause of death as suicide, residents are deeply skeptical. Some reported seeing bruises on her body and said that a doctor’s report had noted a wound on her head as well as a broken neck. They also said her clothes looked as though they had been put on after her death. The lama, who had a reputation as a womanizer, has since disappeared.
In its statement, the Public Security Bureau said the two policemen were on duty at the time of her death and could not have been involved. But villagers insist that the two men were seen drinking with the lama that night and suspect a coverup. Instead of investigating, they say, the police just called in the army.
As they rounded up suspects, security forces raided and ransacked relatives’ homes, “smashing everything and stabbing knives into sacks of rice and butter,” one relative said. “We’ve only seen that kind of brutality before in TV dramas about Japanese invaders.”
The raiders confiscated photos of Tsering Tso — even checking mobile phones. A family member showed scars on his head from a beating that he said left his body drenched in blood. Released weeks later, he was warned by officials not to talk to anyone, but he refuses to be silenced.
He said another relative walks with a limp after being beaten on his legs; a third, a Buddhist monk, was beaten so badly on the head that he bled from one ear and today cannot walk at all. Family members who work for the government lost their jobs.
The police statement merely said that 44 people had been subpoenaed.
Many Tibetans are too scared to speak out publicly against injustice, but the communities around Chalong appear to have gathered to write a remarkable open letter about the incident. The letter, first obtained by Golog Jigme, claims to have been written in the name of 700 residents across 13 communities in the area.
“These days the Chinese Communists are claiming and announcing how they are building a perfect Tibet and how free and happy Tibetans are in China, but now we have no option but to show the world an actual example of the real suffering endured by the people of the three regions of Tibet under Chinese oppression,” the letter begins.
Local officials, the letter continued, had “conspired to use force to bully the common people,” ending with an appeal to President Xi to “investigate and rectify.”
The International Campaign for Tibet said the incident reveals the extent of the impunity of officials and police in Tibet, and the fact that it took so long to reach the outside world shows how tightly information flows are restricted. The organization Free Tibet said it “clearly exemplifies not just the brutality of life under the Chinese occupation but also how arbitrary and illogical it can be.”
Xu Yangjingjing contributed to this report.
Simon Denyer is The Post’s bureau chief in China. He served previously as bureau chief in India and as a Reuters bureau chief in Washington, India and Pakistan.
Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute
Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border DisputeSino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute: ACHARYA J B KRIPALANI, GANDHIAN THINKER, FREEDOM FIGHTER, SOCIAL WORKER, AND EMINENT INTELLECTUAL OF INDIA IS SEEN IN THIS PHOTO (LEFT) ALONG WITH SARDAR PATEL (MIDDLE) AND SIR SEN (RIGHT). ACCORDING TO ACHARYA KRIPALANI THE PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT IS BORN IN SIN. I MET THIS NATIONALIST LEADER, MEMBER OF INDIAN PARLIAMENT DURING JUNE 1967 IN NEW DELHI.
Seventy years ago, India and Peoples’ Republic of China had signed the Panchsheel Agreement without coming to a proper understanding about the status of Tibet. At that time, both India and Tibet had earnestly believed that China would not oppress Tibet with its military conquest. India and Tibet were hoping that China would respect the traditional governance of Tibet by the Institution called The Dalai Lama or the Ganden Phodrang Government which ruled over Tibet for four centuries since 1642.
Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute :IN MY OPINION, THIS PHOTO IMAGE PROVIDES THE EVIDENCE FOR THE DECEPTION OF PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT OF JUNE 1954. CHINA’S PRIME MINISTER CHOU EN-LAI HAD ARRIVED IN NEW DELHI ON AN OFFICIAL VISIT ACCOMPANIED BY THE 14th DALAI LAMA WHO IS RECOGNIZED BY INDIA AS THE HEAD OF THE TIBETAN GOVERNMENT. AT THAT TIME CHINA HAD DELIBERATELY DISTORTED THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PURPOSE OF ITS MILITARY CONQUEST OF TIBET.Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute: AFTER SIGNING THE PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT, INDIA TRIED ITS BEST TO LOOSEN CHINA’S MILITARY GRIP OVER TIBET. BOTH INDIA, AND TIBET HOPED THAT DIPLOMACY WOULD PREVAIL AND THAT TIBET WOULD ENJOY FULL AUTONOMY DESPITE CHINA’S MILITARY CONQUEST OF TIBET DURING 1950. THIS PHOTO IMAGE OF CHOU EN-LAI’S VISIT TO NEW DELHI ALONG WITH THE 14th DALAI LAMA GAVE HOPE TO BOTH INDIA AND TIBET.Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute: THE DECEPTION OF PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT OF 1954: CHINA’S PRIME MINISTER CHOU EN-LAI HAD VISITED INDIA DURING 1956, ABOUT TWO YEARS AFTER THE SIGNING OF THE PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT. THIS PHOTO IMAGE IS THE EVIDENCE FOR CHINA’S DECEPTION. CHINA GAVE THE IMPRESSION THAT IT WOULD RESPECT THE POLITICAL INSTITUTION OF THE DALAI LAMA THAT RULED OVER TIBET FOR FOUR CENTURIES.
While India’s Prime Minister Nehru and Tibet’s ruler, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama had hoped for a peaceful relationship with China, many Indians were not optimistic and had suspected that China had annexed Tibet with its military invasion of 1950. This Panchsheel Agreement, in the words of Acharya Kripalani, is “Born in Sin.” I had expressed a similar view while commenting on the US-China trade relations that were initiated by President Richard Nixon and Dr. Henry Kissinger and described it as an act of “Original Sin” or “Whole Sin.”
Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute: THE DECEPTION OF PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT OF 1954: INDIA’S VICE-PRESIDENT DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN VISITED PEKING DURING SEPTEMBER 1957 AND MET WITH THE LEADERS OF COMMUNIST CHINA WITH AN EARNEST DESIRE TO SAVE TIBET FROM CHINA’S MILITARY OPPRESSION. THE TRUE INTENTIONS OF CHINA GOT EXPOSED AND THE DECEPTION OF PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT BECAME FULLY EVIDENT.Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute: THE DECEPTION OF PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT OF 1954: TOWARDS THE END OF 1957, BOTH INDIA AND TIBET HAD FULLY RECOGNIZED THE DECEPTION OF THE PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT THAT WAS INITIATED BY CHINA AFTER ITS MILITARY INVASION OF TIBET IN 1950. A TIBETAN RESISTANCE MOVEMENT TOOK ITS BIRTH TO FACE THE CHALLENGE POSED BY CHINA’S MILITARY OCCUPATION OF TIBET.
In my opinion, any agreement between China and India would have no validity if it involves the Land of Tibet. The Panchsheel Agreement is void as Tibet has not signed this agreement. India and China do not share a common border and the concern about peaceful coexistence must include the concern for the true aspirations of Tibetan people and their natural rights to their territory and to their right to Freedom from military occupation.To begin with, I ask for resolution of Tibet-China Border Dispute.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162, USA Special Frontier Force-Establishment 22-Vikas Regiment
MOVING BEYOND THE PANCHSHEEL DECEPTION
Ram Madhav | INDIAN EXPRESS, Saturday, June 28, 2014 12:51 am
THE DECEPTION OF PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT: Mr. Ram Madhav in his opinion had correctly stated that the Panchsheel Agreement between India and China does not include the Land of Tibet. Without the participation of Tibet, the Agreement has no worth and it will not achieve any purpose.
India and China can cooperate with each other on the principles of sovereign equality and mutual sensitivity.
Summary
India and China must develop a new framework for bilateral relations, unshackled by empty rituals and symbols.
Ram Madhav
The biggest problem in Sino-Indian relations is the utter lack of ingenuity and innovativeness. Six decades after the formal engagement through Panchsheel and five decades after the bloody disengagement due to the 1962 War, leaders of both the countries struggle to come up with new and out-of-the-box answers to the problems plaguing their relationship.
When there are no new ideas, one resorts to symbolism and rituals. These are projected as the great new ideas to kickstart a new relationship. However, there is nothing great or new about them. They are the very same worn out and tried-tested-and-failed actions of the last several decades.
The Panchsheel itself is one ritual that successive Indian governments have unfailingly performed. Vice President Hamid Ansari will be visiting Beijing today to uphold India’s commitment to the ritual. The occasion is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Panchsheel Agreement.
It was exactly six decades ago, on June 28, 1954, roughly two months after the formal signing of the Panchsheel, that Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai visited India. He and then-prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had issued a historic statement, reaffirming their commitment to the five principles enshrined in the Panchsheel to “lessen the tensions that exist in the world today and help in creating a climate of peace”.
Contrary to public perception or propaganda, Panchsheel was actually an agreement between the “Tibetan region of China and India” on “trade and intercourse.” It did include five principles, like mutual respect, mutual non-aggression, mutual benefit, peaceful coexistence, etc, but the very title of the agreement was a defeat for India.
The British had, at least from the Simla Accord of 1912 until they left India, not conceded that Tibet was a part of China. Unfortunately, one of the first foreign policy deviations of the Nehru government was the signing of the Panchsheel, wherein India had formally called the Tibetan region as “of China”. Thus the Panchsheel was signed as a treaty of peaceful coexistence over the obituary of Tibetan independence. That was why parliamentarian Acharya Kripalani called the agreement as “born in sin”.
The Panchsheel met its end just three months after its signing, when the Chinese were found violating Indian borders in Ladakh in late-1954. A formal death note was written by Mao Zedong a few months before the 1962 war, when he told Zhou that what India and China should practice is not “peaceful coexistence” but “armed coexistence”. The war followed and ended in humiliation and loss of territory for India. It left behind a massive border dispute that continues to haunt both the countries.
However, this didn’t seem to deter the Indian and, to some extent, the Chinese leadership in continuing with the deception of the Panchsheel. The history of Sino-Indian relations in the last five decades is replete with instances of violations of sovereignty, mutual animosity, attempts to upstage each other and general ill-will. Mostly the Chinese have been on the wrong side of the so-called Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
Yet, the ritual continued through the decades and changing governments in India. Nehru to P.V. Narasimha Rao to Atal Bihari Vajpayee continued paying lip service to the Panchsheel during bilateral visits.
“Only with coexistence can there be any existence,” declared Indira Gandhi in 1983. The next prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, expressed confidence in 1988 that “the five principles of peaceful coexistence provide the best way to handle relations between nations”. Rao as prime minister declared in 1993 that “these principles remain as valid today as they were when they were drafted”. While Vajpayee too was forced to continue this ritual, he made a significant departure by refusing to falsely credit China for following the Panchsheel. He put extra emphasis on “mutual sensitivity to the concerns of each other” and “respect for equality.”
At a time when Beijing is celebrating six decades of the Panchsheel, it is important to look at a new framework for Sino-Indian relations beyond Panchsheel. Vajpayee laid the foundation for a renewed outlook by emphasising on sensitivity and equality. That can form the basis for the new framework.
The Chinese have a clever way of promoting their superiority and exclusivism. Sinologists describe it as the Middle Kingdom syndrome. While Nehru wanted to take credit for the Panchsheel, Zhou told Richard Nixon in 1973 that “actually, the five principles were put forward by us, and Nehru agreed. But later on he didn’t implement them”. The Chinese also entered into a similar agreement with Myanmar (then Burma) in 1954, thus ensuring that the Panchsheel wasn’t exclusive to their relationship with India.
For the Beijing event, the Chinese government has invited the president of India as well as the president of Myanmar, General Thein Sein, who will be present. Ansari will lead the Indian delegation. Without any malice towards Ansari, one would notice the downgrading of India’s participation in the Beijing event. Beijing was keen on having the president or prime minister at the event. But for once, the South Block mandarins seem to have done their homework, advising the Indian government against sending either of them. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj too decided to skip the event and chose to visit Dhaka around the same time, sending a rather strong signal.
If Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is expected to visit India in September, decide to depart from the Panchsheel framework and embark on a new relationship, both countries will benefit. Both leaders have that ability. Both enjoy the trust and confidence of their countries. Most importantly, both are seen to be out-of-the-box leaders.
India and China can cooperate with each other on the principles of sovereign equality and mutual sensitivity. China has emerged as an economic superpower, but is exposed to serious internal and external threats. It is facing problems with almost all of its 13 neighbours. The fact that China spends more money on internal security than on external security speaks volumes about its internal vulnerability. So, while India is not as big economically as China, its security apparatus is better-placed.
Modi and Xi can chart a new course in Sino-Indian relations if they are prepared to unshackle themselves from ritualism and symbolism. Both have the ability and the support to do it.
Madhav is a member of the Central Executive, RSS, and the author of ‘Uneasy Neighbours: India and China after Fifty Years of the War’
Sino-Indian Relations must be reformulated after resolving Tibet-China Border Dispute: THE DECEPTION OF PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT OF 1954: INDIA AND TIBET RECOGNIZED THE DECEPTION OF COMMUNIST CHINA AND WERE LEFT WITH NO OPTION. THE TIBETAN RESISTANCE MOVEMENT TOOK ITS BIRTH IN 1957-1958 AND IT SYMBOLIZES THE FAILURE OF THE PANCHSHEEL AGREEMENT. TO CONFIRM THE FACT OF THIS FAILURE, CHINA HAD VICIOUSLY ATTACKED INDIA DURING OCTOBER 1962.
Whole Demand -Tibet Wants China to Return the Real Panchen LamaWhole Subversion -Red China’s appointment of 11th Panchen Lama. Red China’s Panchen Lama is a political appointee. Gyaltsen Norbert, the False 11th Panchen Lama symbolizes Red China’s Policy of Subversion. 20 years after Disappearance, Tibet wants China to Return True or Real Panchen Lama.
Red China is a ‘Jackal’ for she is dishonest, a cheat, swindler, and practices deception. Red China has deliberately acted dishonestly to deprive Tibetans of their property, their rights, and their cultural beliefs. Red China uses ‘stratagem’ to deceive others and she uses tricks or ruses in deceiving others. Red China apart from destroying Tibet’s established government called ‘The Institution of Dalai Lama’ is undermining Tibet’s established cultural institutions and belief systems that Tibetan people use to recognize figures of authority and of importance. 20 years after Disappearance, Tibet wants China to Return True or Real Panchen Lama.
Supreme Ruler of Tibet on his Europe’s Visit urges constructive criticism of China. Red China’s Real Face is Exposed; Rabid Jackal
Dalai Lama Calls for More Research into Panchen Lama Disappearance
Dalai Lama Calls for More Research into Panchen Lama Disappearance
FILE – Tibet’s exiled government and Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on stage before making a speech at the ESS Stadium in Aldershot, southern England, June 29, 2015.
Reuters
September 14, 2015 6:53 PM
OXFORD, ENGLAND—
The Dalai Lama said on Monday more research was needed to settle the fate of the man he named as the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, who vanished two decades ago but is said by the Chinese to be living a normal life.
Gendun Choekyi Nyima, now 26, disappeared shortly after he was declared by the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet to be the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama when he was six years old. His fate, which is just one area of contention between China and the Dalai Lama over Tibet, continues to be a deep concern to many Tibetans and he remains one of China’s most zealously guarded state secrets.
A senior Chinese official said earlier this month Gendun Choekyi Nyima was “being educated, growing up healthily and does not want to be disturbed”. The Chinese Communist Party has long maintained that Gendun Choekyi Nyima is not the real Panchen Lama, and in 1995, the government selected Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama.
The Chinese government sees the appointment of the next Dalai Lama as key to consolidating state control over Tibet, where separatist movements have flared since the 1950s, and to undermining the present Dalai Lama’s influence. “I think the Chinese government is more concerned with the Dalai Lama institution than myself,” the Dalai Lama said on Monday at a news conference at Oxford University.
The Dalai Lama acknowledged reports on Gendun Choekyi Nyima, but said evidence was needed to make them credible. “Some friends say that my Panchen Lama is still alive … and he has also had the opportunity to make a family,” he said. But he added: “We need more research. Unless we do the research, [it’s] no use to make a comment like that.”
The 80-year-old Dalai Lama fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Beijing says he is a violent separatist but the Buddhist monk denies espousing violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet.
He has not met British Prime Minister David Cameron during this visit, which comes a month before Chinese president Xi Jinping is due to make his first official state visit to Britain. A meeting between Cameron and the Dalai Lama in 2013 triggered a diplomatic spat between Britain and China.
Whole Demand: 30 years after Disappearance, Tibet wants China to Return True or Real Panchen Lama.
Trouble in Tibet – Dalai Lama Portraits Confiscated
Confiscation of Dalai Lama portraits in Occupied Tibet is a sign and symptom of deep Trouble in Tibet. To give relief from Trouble, Tibet needs Freedom From Occupation. The Dalai Lama will not reincarnate in a Land where his portraits are confiscated.
Confiscation of Dalai Lama portraits in Occupied Tibet is a sign and symptom of deep Trouble in Tibet. To give relief from Trouble, Tibet needs Freedom From Occupation. The Dalai Lama will not reincarnate in a Land where his portraits are confiscated.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE
Confiscation of Dalai Lama portraits in Occupied Tibet is a sign and symptom of deep Trouble in Tibet. To give relief from Trouble, Tibet needs Freedom From Occupation. The Dalai Lama will not reincarnate in a Land where his portraits are confiscated.
DALAI LAMA PORTRAITS CONFISCATED IN CHINA: REPORT
February 3, 2016 12:40 AM
A man prays below a portrait of the Dalai Lama at Kirti Monastery in Aba, a Tibetan area of China’s Sichuan province, on December 9, 2015 (AFP Photo/Benjamin Haas)
Beijing (AFP) – A Chinese province with a large Tibetan population has ordered shopkeepers to hand in portraits of the Dalai Lama, state-run media said Wednesday, quoting Beijing experts likening the Nobel laureate to executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Sichuan in the southwest, which includes several ethnically Tibetan areas, set up a “law enforcement squad” of cultural bureau personnel, police and other officials to enforce the drive, reported the Global Times, which is close to the ruling Communist party.
The aim was to “crack down on pornography and illegal publications, which include portraits of the Dalai Lama” ahead of the Lunar New Year, it quoted Gou Yadong, director of the provincial publicity department, as saying.
People were more than welcome to put on show pictures of the country’s past and present leaders, he added, referring to former heads of the ruling party. The Global Times also cited Lian Xiangmin, of the China Tibetology Research Centre in Beijing, as saying that for Chinese people, hanging his picture was the same as displaying Saddam Hussein’s image would be for Americans.
The former Iraqi leader was executed in 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity, while the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, was awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace prize.
The move in Sichuan comes as Beijing steps up a campaign against the spiritual leader, who is still widely revered by Tibetans. Beijing brands him a dangerous separatist, despite his repeated statements condemning violence, and in Tibet it tightly controls images of him as part of what many Tibetans see as official repression of their religion and culture.
China denies repression of minorities and says its massive investment in Tibet has brought development to a formerly poverty stricken region. Some Tibetan areas in Sichuan had seen laxer enforcement in recent years, with business owners displaying his portrait in shops.
TROUBLE IN TIBET – DALAI LAMA PORTRAITS CONFISCATED IN OCCUPIED TIBET. 1987 Photography by Herb Ritts.Confiscation of Dalai Lama portraits in Occupied Tibet is a sign and symptom of deep Trouble in Tibet. To give relief from Trouble, Tibet needs Freedom From Occupation. The Dalai Lama will not reincarnate in a Land where his portraits are confiscated.
