Hunger striker refuses check-up, Solidarity actions mount/ENG

2012. március 19./Phayul.com/TibetPress

DHARAMSHALA, March 19: Support for the three Tibetan hunger strikers in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, who are now into their 27th day without food, is growing from all corners of the society.

The Tibetan parliament, which is currently in session, raised concerns for the health of the three hunger strikers and are considering a writ petition to the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, appealing for his immediate intervention.

Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay in an appeal letter Friday urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send a Special Envoy to investigate the prevailing “tragic and explosive” situation inside Tibet, particularly in areas where the 30 self-immolations have taken place.

“We, Tibetans inside and outside Tibet, appeal to the United Nations to send a Special Envoy to Tibet, particularly to areas where these self-immolations took place, to investigate the on-the-ground reality,” Dr Sangay wrote.

“The Kashag (Tibetan cabinet) joins its voice to that of the Tibetan people, parliament, international NGOs, and the three Tibetan hunger strikers before the UN headquarters in New York to reiterate this request,” he said.

The three hunger strikers, Shingza Rinpoche, Dorjee Gyalpo, and Yeshi Tenzing, are “physically worn down and suffering tremendous pain inside their bodies” said the Tibetan Youth Congress.

“As much as they try to hide the excruciating pain, they need to be escorted by two people to and from the car in the morning and evening,” Tsewang Rigzin, president of TYC said.

The doctor in attendance, after doing a thorough check-up of the hunger strikers had asked Dorjee Gyalpo, 59, to undergo examination in a hospital but the eldest of the three, apparently refused the advise.

"I am not here to go to the hospital, I am here to demand the UN to douse the burning human flames inside Tibet and we will not move an inch until UN answers us,” Dorjee Gyalpo said.

n solidarity with the ‘Indefinite Fast for Tibet’, members of the Tibetan Association of New York/New Jersey organised a mass prostration (kyangcha) campaign yesterday, pleading the UN to respond to the five-point appeal of the hunger strikers.

The three are appealing the UN to immediately send a fact-finding delegation to Tibet, put pressure on China – to stop the undeclared martial law in Tibet, to allow international media inside Tibet, to release all political prisoners, and to stop the “patriotic re-education” campaign in Tibet.

“Hundreds of Tibetans including many children prostrated through several blocks of New York City and passed by the hunger strikers showing them they are not alone,” Rigzin said.

In south India, monks at the Sera Je monastery, one of the oldest and largest seats of learning, performed mass prayers and rituals for the success of the campaign and the health of the three.

In Dharamshala, Tibetans led by former central executive members of TYC, sat on a day-long token hunger fast Sunday in solidarity with the New York indefinite fast.

Former TYC presidents, including Lhasang Tsering, Karma Chophel, and Lobsang Yeshi, along with sitting members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile sat at the McLeod Ganj Square, urging the UN to heed to the appeals of the hunger strikers.