Exile Tibetans mark Losar with prayers, rally/ENG

2012. február 22./Tibet Sun/TibetPress

Forgoing Losar — the Tibetan New Year — due to the tense situation in Tibet, exile Tibetans staged a day-long solidarity hunger strike for the victims of Chinese police and self immolation protests against the Chinese rule in Tibet, in Dharamshala Wednesday.

The Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, Penpa Tsering, said that the Chinese policies in Tibet are aimed at annihilating Tibetan culture and the environment.

Tibetans in Tibet are being discriminated against by the Chinese government and are treated as second class citizens in their own land.

“When [the] Chinese stage demonstrations, the demonstrators are dispersed with tear gas. When Tibetans demonstrate, they are shot at and killed,” Tsering said.

He appealed the Chinese leaders to withdraw the large reinforcement of military to reduce tension in Tibet and to take measures with regard to the aspirations of the Tibetan people.

The Tibetan official also urged the Chinese leaders to allow fact finding delegations visit Tibet to ascertain the situation in Tibet.

He also appealed for an intervention by the international community to stop the tense situation in Tibet, and to find a lasting solution to the issue of Tibet for a mutually beneficial agreement through dialogue.

Since the self-immolation of monk Tapey of Kirti Monastery in Tibet’s Amdo region on 27 February 2009, 22 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since then, mostly in the past year — in protest against the tight Chinese control of Tibet. At least 15 are said to have died due to their injuries.

The protesters have called to let the Dalai Lama return to Tibet and greater freedom in Tibet.

The members of the Tibetan parliament, ministers of the exile government and a few hundred exiled Tibetans participated in the hunger-strike rally at Tsuglakhang Temple in McLeod Ganj, India. A group of 25 people supporting the “middle-way” policy left for Delhi for a protest in the Indian capital on Thursday.

The Kalon Tripa Lobsang Sangay, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, urged Tibetans to forgo Losar celebrations due to the wave of self-immolations, and the subsequent deaths, in protest against the Chinese rule in Tibet.

The Water Dragon 2139 Tibetan year began with the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama leading the Tsedor prayer session in the morning.
By Lobsang Wangyal