International community apprised on Tibetans’ plight

By: HP News Network

Dharamsala: Tibetans in exile are reaching out to the international community to intervene in ending human rights violations of Tibetans in China.

An official of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), based in this Himachal Pradesh town, told on Sunday a parliamentary delegation was in New Delhi last week to apprise various embassies of the ongoing repression by China.

“During the visit to Delhi, the delegation met officials and functionaries of more than a dozen embassies, including the US, Britain, France, Denmark, Norway and Finland,” a CTA spokesperson said.

He said the delegation, headed by parliament speaker Penpa Tsering, also met members of the European Union.

The CTA said nine Tibetans immolated themselves in protest against China’s policies, called for freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama to his homeland. It said five of the nine died.

Meanwhile, a French lawmaker has said: “France’s voice must be heard on the international stage and urged the government to implement a policy which would ensure enforcement of human rights in China.”

“I have been closely following the tragic events occurring in the Ngaba region,” Jean-Louis Bianco, a deputy in the French National Assembly and the Vice President of Parliamentary Group for Tibet, said in a statement, according to a post on the CTA official website.

“I have also read the letter sent by the president of the association Emergency Tibet to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, urging him to publicly condemn the repression against Tibetans,” he said.

Thousands of Tibetans Oct 19 participated in prayers here and other parts of the country to express solidarity with people of Tibet.

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama and a large number of monks and nuns participated in a morning-prayer session in Dharamsala and observed a day-long fast for those who have immolated themselves in Tibet,” Thubten Samphel, a spokesperson for the CTA, said.

On that day, Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay said: “For over the last 60 years, since the Communist China’s occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan people have been undergoing untold suffering.”

“We would like to appeal to the Chinese government to immediately stop its repressive policies in Tibet, and to resolve the issue of Tibet through peaceful means. We would like to appeal to the United Nations to send fact-finding delegations into Tibet,” said the senior fellow of Harvard Law School, who has never visited his ancestral land.

The Dalai Lama along with many of his supporters fled Tibet and took refuge in India when Chinese troops moved in and took control of Lhasa in 1959.

He then headed a Tibetan government-in-exile which never won recognition from any country.

India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans.

IANS