As Chinese everywhere were celebrating the first couple of days of  the Year of Dragon on January 23rd and 24th, 2012. Chinese police fired indiscriminately on hundreds of Tibetans who had gathered peacefully to claim their basic rights in Drakgo, Serthar, Ngaba, Gyarong, and other neighboring Tibetan areas. Six Tibetans were reportedly killed and around sixty injured, some critically.

Because of gruesome acts such as these and the systematic repression of Tibetans, the resentment and anger amongst Tibetans against Chinese government has only grown since the massive uprising of 2008.

Ever since the invasion of Tibet, the Chinese government has claimed that it seeks to create a socialist paradise. However, basic human rights are being denied to Tibetans, the fragile environment is being destroyed, Tibetan language and culture is being assimilated, portraits of His Holiness the Dalai Lama are banned, and Tibetans are being economically marginalized. Tibet is in virtual lockdown. Foreigners have been barred from travelling to Tibet now and the entire region is essentially under undeclared martial law.

I urge the Chinese leadership to heed the cries of the Tibetan protestors and those who have committed self-immolation. You will never address the genuine grievances of Tibetans and restore stability in Tibet through violence and killing. The only way to resolve the Tibet issue and bring about lasting peace is by respecting the rights of the Tibetan people and through dialogue. As someone deeply committed to peaceful dialogue, the use of violence against Tibetans is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned by all people in China and around the world.

I call on the international community to show solidarity and to raise your voices in support of the fundamental rights of the Tibetan people at this critical time. I request that the international community and the United Nations send a fact-finding delegation to Tibet and that the world media be given access to the region as well. The leaders in Beijing must know that killing its own “family members” is in clear violation of international and Chinese laws, and such actions will cast further doubts on China’s moral legitimacy and their standing in world affairs.

I want to tell my dear brothers and sisters inside Tibet that we hear your cries loud and clear. We urge you not to despair and refrain from extreme measures. We feel your pain and will not allow the sacrifices you have made go in vain. You all are in our heart and prayers each and every day.

To my fellow Tibetans, I request you not to celebrate Losar (Tibetan New Year), which falls on February 22 this year. However, please observe the basic customary religious rituals such as going to temple, burning incense and making traditional offerings.

To demonstrate our solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet, I urge Tibetans and our friends around the world, to participate in a worldwide vigil on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. Let’s send a loud and clear message to the Chinese government that violence and killing of innocent Tibetans is unacceptable! I request everyone to conduct these vigils peacefully, in accordance with the laws of your country, and with dignity.

A video message of this statement is available with the following link: www.tibetonline.tv.

As Chinese everywhere were celebrating the first couple of days of  the Year of Dragon on January 23rd and 24th, 2012. Chinese police fired indiscriminately on hundreds of Tibetans who had gathered peacefully to claim their basic rights in Drakgo, Serthar, Ngaba, Gyarong, and other neighboring Tibetan areas. Six Tibetans were reportedly killed and around sixty injured, some critically.

Because of gruesome acts such as these and the systematic repression of Tibetans, the resentment and anger amongst Tibetans against Chinese government has only grown since the massive uprising of 2008.

Ever since the invasion of Tibet, the Chinese government has claimed that it seeks to create a socialist paradise. However, basic human rights are being denied to Tibetans, the fragile environment is being destroyed, Tibetan language and culture is being assimilated, portraits of His Holiness the Dalai Lama are banned, and Tibetans are being economically marginalized. Tibet is in virtual lockdown. Foreigners have been barred from travelling to Tibet now and the entire region is essentially under undeclared martial law.

I urge the Chinese leadership to heed the cries of the Tibetan protestors and those who have committed self-immolation. You will never address the genuine grievances of Tibetans and restore stability in Tibet through violence and killing. The only way to resolve the Tibet issue and bring about lasting peace is by respecting the rights of the Tibetan people and through dialogue. As someone deeply committed to peaceful dialogue, the use of violence against Tibetans is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned by all people in China and around the world.

I call on the international community to show solidarity and to raise your voices in support of the fundamental rights of the Tibetan people at this critical time. I request that the international community and the United Nations send a fact-finding delegation to Tibet and that the world media be given access to the region as well. The leaders in Beijing must know that killing its own “family members” is in clear violation of international and Chinese laws, and such actions will cast further doubts on China’s moral legitimacy and their standing in world affairs.

I want to tell my dear brothers and sisters inside Tibet that we hear your cries loud and clear. We urge you not to despair and refrain from extreme measures. We feel your pain and will not allow the sacrifices you have made go in vain. You all are in our heart and prayers each and every day.

To my fellow Tibetans, I request you not to celebrate Losar (Tibetan New Year), which falls on February 22 this year. However, please observe the basic customary religious rituals such as going to temple, burning incense and making traditional offerings.

To demonstrate our solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet, I urge Tibetans and our friends around the world, to participate in a worldwide vigil on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. Let’s send a loud and clear message to the Chinese government that violence and killing of innocent Tibetans is unacceptable! I request everyone to conduct these vigils peacefully, in accordance with the laws of your country, and with dignity.

A video message of this statement is available with the following link: www.tibetonline.tv.

DHARAMSHALA: Thousands of Tibetan devotees returning to Tibet after the Kalachakra initiations are being arbitrarily stopped and searched, reports coming from Tibet says.

Some twelve heavy security checkpoints have been placed from Zhangmu at the Nepal-Tibet border till Lhasa. Extra units of personnel from the Public Security Bureau were posted to stop and search Tibetan devotees returning to Tibet from India through Nepal.

Medicines and religious artifacts brought by the Tibetan devotees from their pilgrimage are being forcefully confiscated. Even  rosaries which is carried by almost every Tibetan are being snatched away, a source said.

It is also reported that the Chinese security guards resort to verbal abuse and physical threats when asked about reasons for frisking them without any official warrants.

Around 8000 Tibetans from Tibet had come to India to attend the recently concluded Kalachakra initiations by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Bodh Gaya.

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press

19th January 2012

BEIJING – For a fifth straight year, China plans to close Tibet to foreign travelers during a sensitive period starting in mid-February, travel agents said Thursday.

Agent Yu Zhi of the Lhasa Youth Tourist Agency said Thursday the government’s tourist administration in Tibet’s capital had informed agents that foreign travelers would be banned from Feb. 20 to March 30.

Another agent with the China International Travel Agency in Lhasa, who wouldn’t give her name, said she’d been told the ban would end March 20.

The periodic closure of the Himalayan region encompasses the Feb. 22-24 Tibetan new year festival of Losar as well as the anniversary of a deadly anti-government riot among Tibetans on March 14, 2008.

Tensions are especially high this year following the self-immolations of at least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans. Most have chanted for Tibetan freedom and the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

While authorities have never explained the rational behind the annual closure, it’s seen as a standard measure based on the assumption that outsiders could either inspire or witness renewed anti-government protests or other conflicts. “We haven’t seen a written notice, but it’s the same as previous bans. We were not told about the reasons, but it’s probably because of the Tibetan new  year,” said Yu, the Lhasa agent. In addition to the coming closure of Tibet proper, traditionally Tibetan areas of Sichuan province and other parts of western China where most of the self-immolations have taken place have been closed to outsiders for months amid a massive security presence.

A clerk with the Lhasa Tourist Bureau denied there was a ban, but declined give her name. Chinese officials often issue orders regarding sensitive political issues only verbally to allow deniability and maintain the impression of control.

Although Chinese citizens are generally exempt from such closure orders, they have dented China’s hopes to develop tourism into a major economic driver in one of the country’s poorest regions. Many Tibetans resent Beijing’s heavy-handed rule and large-scale migration of China’s ethnic Han majority to the Himalayan region. While China claims Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time.

Bhuchung K. Tsering

http://weblog.savetibet.org

January 12, 2012

When a dog is cornered it tends to bark ridiculously. I was reminded of this when reading the Global Times editorial of January 11, 2012 concerning another three Tibetans who have committed self-immolations in recent days. How else can we interpret its effort to blatantly ignore the real cause of the self-immolations by Tibetans by questioning their power of judgment and virtually calling them tools of the West?

Global Times, which “dares to touch the sensitive issues,” is surpassing the official Chinese propaganda in its effort to divert blames for the Tibetan self immolations being put rightly on the policies of the Chinese authorities. I would have thought Global Times would have shown its daringness by going deeper and objectively into the causes leading to the Tibetan self-immolations, something like those Chinese Lawyers who did a report about the 2008 Tibet-wide protests. Even a person with little or no education would know that no one commits such extreme actions for the pleasure of it. Blaming outside forces for interfering in China’s “domestic affairs” is just an easy excuse and merely sweeps the problem under the carpet without addressing it.

On November 30, 2011, Chinese Ambassador to the UN, Li Baodong, made a statement at the 66th Session of the General Assembly on Review of the Middle East Situation and Palestinian Issue” saying, “ China  has all along supported the Palestinian people in their just cause to restore the lawful rights of the nation.” China did not think it was interfering in the domestic affairs of others here.  However, if Global Times does not want outsiders raising questions about developments in Tibet , why is it not using its daringness to look at the concerns of the Tibetan people? I know what the answer would be, but I wanted to say this to keep up with the pretence that the Global Times is different from the People’s Daily.

Here I am reminded about how Global Times covered the Chinese police action against Uyghurs on December 28, 2011 leading to the death of some and the detention of five children.  Amnesty International, in a statement on January 6, challenges the version published by Global Times and the Chinese Government. “The official explanation that people were killed because they ‘resisted arrest’ doesn’t answer how seven people ended up being shot dead, and a number of others injured,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Director for the Asia-Pacific.  Amnesty has said that “The Chinese authorities must reveal the whereabouts of up to five Uighur children reportedly detained” and Global Times should use its daringness to question the Chinese Government on this.

Coming back to the Tibetan issue, I do not think Global Times has to go far in searching for topics if it has the courage to address the sensitive Tibetan issue.  It could look at its own editorial, referred to above, and I can find at least two points that could be addressed.

Global Times said, “It is cruel to put political pressure on young Tibetan monks.” While it mentions this in the context of the “Dalai group” (whatever this may mean), I challenge it to look at the Chinese Government’s policies over Tibetan monasteries, from the most recent regulations on recognition of reincarnations to the denial of freedom to undertake daily and traditional religious activities, both the ritual and the philosophy aspect of it, that are putting not just political, but emotional, physical and even social pressures on Tibetan monks, both young and old. That will be something writing to the Party about.

Similarly, the Global Times concludes, “As time goes by, the believers of Tibetan Buddhism will finally know the Dalai Lama’s true intentions.” I wish they really mean this in its true sense and followed up with articles that will enlighten the Chinese minds. This is because the H.H. the Dalai Lama’s “true intentions” have been known to Tibetans throughout Tibetan history and it is this that has resulted in the special bond between him and the Tibetan people. It is this knowledge that is also leading to increasing admiration and reverence for him by people throughout the world.  The Dalai Lama has gotten these not from spending millions of dollars in soft power diplomacy, as some countries do, but through the simple and positive messages that he conveys.

To conclude, While I would concur with Global Times that “ China’s Tibetan region has been affected by outrageous political influences,” I do not think it is happening “under the name of religion.” Rather, it comes from a Chinese leadership that is giving the Tibetan people an outrageous choice of choosing between the Communist Party and the Dalai Lama (in the process not being able to face with the Tibetan people’s choice).

By BRIAN SPEGELE, Wall Street Journal

ASIA NEWS, JANUARY 9, 2012

DAOFU, China-Shortly after Palden Choetso doused herself in gasoline, gulped several mouthfuls, and set herself ablaze in November, friends ofthe Tibetan nun found a list of names pinned above her bed in the small, wooden hut where she lived.

The 35-year-old nun at the Gaden Choeling nunnery was compiling a tally of Tibetans who had set themselves on fire, all in the same corner of western Sichuan province, in protest of China’s policies in the region-adjacent to the Tibet Autonomous Region and heavily populated by ethnic Tibetans. Among the names was Tsewang Norbu, a 29-year-old monk at the local Nyitso monastery.

The self-immolations returned to the headlines this weekend as China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported Saturday that a former monk had died and another was injured after they set themselves on fire in Sichuan. Xinhua said the men were former monks from Kirti monastery, another center of Tibetan political activism that has come under siege from police in recent months.

Their acts bring the number of ethnic Tibetans known to have self-immolated in Sichuan since March to 13, at least seven of whom have died, according to accounts in Chinese state media and by international rights groups. Another Tibetan has also burned himself to death in Tibet itself.

On Sunday, a separate Xinhua article, which made no mention of the self-immolations, said that senior Tibet officials pledged stepped-up efforts to strengthen the management of monasteries, saying that promoting harmony in Tibet is a top priority because it concerns the stability of the nation.

The unprecedented wave of self-immolations represents a new challenge both to Chinese authorities-by drawing attention to dissent in the area-and to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, who doesn’t want to be seen as encouraging such gestures.

The self-immolations come just as Beijing has launched a nationwide crackdown on religious activity in recent months, and is reminding Communist Party members they aren’t allowed to worship. Religious experts say Buddhism and Christianity in particular have grown in popularity among party officials in recent years, a trend the government fears could one day subvert their faith in the party’s supremacy. Most of the self-immolators are young, part of a new generation of Tibetans who revere the Dalai Lama but whose actions conflict with his advocacy of peaceful protests. The Dalai Lama does not condone suicide.

The Chinese government has long spurned direct contact with the Dalai Lama, despite the appeals of exiled Tibetans, some world leaders and even a few liberal Chinese scholars who believe he may be Beijing’s best hope to help pacify the vast Tibetan regions of western China. The Dalai Lama is 76 years old: After him, many have warned, young Tibetans may beattracted by more extreme forms of protest.

Analysts say that rising desperation over government restrictions on religious activity is already pushing the resistance in a new direction.

In the town of Daofu, where Ms. Palden and Mr. Tsewang self-immolated, they have become martyrs to some. Their photographs are displayed in Daofu’s mud-brick homes. A video circulating on the Internet shows Ms. Palden’s body engulfed in flames, and as she struggles to stay upright, a young woman runs toward her and casts a white scarf at her feet in a gesture of respect.

Tibetans living in Sichuan face higher levels of detention than Tibetans in any other area, including Tibet itself, according to the U.S. government’s Congressional-Executive Commission on China, set up to monitor human rights in China. In a December report, it said that since protests swept the Tibetan plateau in 2008 Beijing has stepped up its campaign against the Dalai Lama as well as measures that “intrude upon and micromanage Tibetan Buddhist monastic affairs,” such as “legal-education” programs for monks and nuns.

Government officials in Daofu haven’t responded to requests to comment on the self-immolations, or on events leading up to them. However, China’s state-run media has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of inciting the acts.

“People are repulsed and angered by the masterminds, supporters and eulogists of the self-immolations, as they feel sad and sorry for the loss of young lives,” wrote Zhang Yun, a researcher with the state-backed China Tibetology Research Center, in a commentary published last month by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

A thwarted birthday celebration for the Dalai Lama in July was a defining event in the final months of the lives of Ms. Palden and Mr. Tsewang, according to detailed accounts by several participants.

Just after 2 a.m. on July 6, monks and nuns from Daofu set off to climb a nearby hill as they had in years past to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday and other holidays. They hoped the darkness would shield them from police, but soon security forces surrounded the group and ordered them to turn back at gunpoint.

As punishment, local officials cut off water and electricity supplies to Nyitso monastery and electricity to Gaden Choeling convent, which has its own water supply.

Experts say the reported reprisals fit into a pattern. “We seem to be seeing new tactics toward certain monasteries in these areas,” said Robert Barnett, an expert on modern Tibet at Columbia University in New York. “These seem to be control measures, stranglehold measures, to break resolve or spirit or collective force.”

In pictures, Mr. Tsewang doesn’t fit the stereotype of a Tibetan monk. He favored aviator sunglasses and had a considerable girth about him. “He loved the monastery. He loved Buddhism,” said a Nyitso leader. “He didn’t love China.”

Mr. Tsewang set himself on fire in August. A woman on the third floor of a building along Daofu’s main road shot photos of his death with her husband’s cellphone, and keeps the memory card hidden in a jewelry box. The photos show Mr. Tsewang’s charred body, his hand clasped as if in prayer.

Tibetan residents, armed with stones, formed a circle around his charred corpse and refused to let police take it away, according to Tibetans in Daofu. They later carried it up to Nyitso.

Several months after Mr. Tsewang’s death, Ms. Palden asked for a few days sick leave from the nunnery to return home.

Her fellow nuns, who say Ms. Palden loved to sing and often serenaded them with Tibetan folk songs of the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet, describe how she had sunk into despondency. On the morning of Nov. 3, she asked her younger sister to go with her to the hospital. They caught a cab into town. Ms. Palden Choetso asked the driver to stop.

“Wait here a minute,” she told her sister, according to the monks and nuns who knew Ms. Palden.

She walked along the town’s main road and doused herself in gasoline, close to the spot where Mr. Tsewang took his life. “Long live the Dalai Lama,” she screamed as flames towered over her head.

The immolations have again spurred calls for talks with Beijing by supporters of the Dalai Lama, who are struggling to find a way to keep the Tibetan movement unified after he passes away.

“It’s important to meet and find ways and means to defuse the very tense situation inside Tibet,” said Kelsang Gyaltsen, a senior official with the Tibetan government-in-exile. He was speaking during a visit by the Dalai Lama to Prague in December.

These younger “generations of Tibetans are much more politically conscious and assertive,” he added. They are “much more inclined to express their resentment and genuine grievances through public protests.”

High-tech surveillance equipment around the Nyitso monastery, a set of buildings surrounding a courtyard, highlights the constant presence of the Chinese state. Nyitso’s leaders avoid stepping into the courtyard, instead huddling against its walls for privacy. “They can see us so clearly,” said a Nyitso leader, gesturing across the street where police have erected a camera to spy on Nyitso’s 250 monks. More cameras line the streets outside the monastery’s gates, which Tibetans say were all installed after the 2008 protests.

Inside Nyitso’s main gathering hall, photos of Mr. Tsewang and Ms. Palden are displayed in memorials. In the days following Ms. Palden’s death, Gaden Choeling’s nuns found her list of names on a piece of notepaper. At the bottom of the page, one of them added Ms. Palden’s name and the date of her death. Then she pinned it back above the bed.

DHARAMSHALA: The Central Tibetan Administration said it is deeply  disturbed and concerned by recent reports of confrontations between  Tibetan and Chinese students at a school in Chengdu, which led to  several Tibetans being hospitalised after they were beaten by an  overwhelming number of Chinese students.

“The Central Tibetan Administration is deeply disturbed and  concerned by news of confrontations, on  December 14th 2011, between  Tibetan and Chinese students at the Railway Engineering School in  Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan,” Information &  International Relations Kalon Dicki Chhoyang told Tibetan reporters  today.

“About 3,000 Chinese students are reported to have entered into a  fight with a few hundred Tibetan students. Several Tibetan students  are said to have been hospitalized due to injuries,” the DIIR kalon  said.

Kalon Dicki Chhoyang expressed concern over similar reports of  tensions between Tibetan and Chinese students in the Chengdu area  in 2010, when a Tibetan student named Pasang was stabbed to death  at the Light Engineering School in Zigong city. “It remains unknown  whether the assailant(s) were arrested and prosecuted,” she added.

“In light of these recent events, we encourage Tibetan students to  focus on their studies and maintain cordial relations with other  fellow students in keeping with our traditional values. Our pride  in our Tibetan identity and heritage does not rest on a show of  physical force, but through academic excellence,” Kalon Chhoyang  said.

“With Tibetan students reported to study in 12 cities in mainland  China, the Chinese government must ensure their personal safety,”  she said.

“In keeping with its claim to build a harmonious society, we hope  the PRC government will take the necessary measures to promote good  relations between Chinese and Tibetan people. Consequently, such  efforts will facilitate positive interactions between Chinese and  Tibetan students,” she added.

“The Kashag of the Central Tibetan Administration would like to  reiterate that the Tibetan struggle is neither anti-China nor anti-  Chinese. We strive for the restoration of freedom in Tibet through  peaceful dialogue,” the DIIR kalon said.

Media contacts:

Thuten Samphel, Secretary 98050 24662

Lobsang Choedak, Press Officer 98822 32476

Dec 16, 2011, 12.00AM IST

Tibetan poet and activist Tenzin Tsundue shot to fame when in 2002, he scaled 14 floors of Mumbai’s Oberoi Towers – where the then Chinese PM Zhu Rongji was addressing Indian business magnates – to unfurl a Tibetan flag. Known for his impassioned writing, the activist also described as one of India’s most stylish people, Tsundue spoke with Amardeep Banerjee about the recent Global Buddhist Conference that became controversial, Buddhist monks immolating themselves – and how the Dalai Lama’s retirement has impacted the Tibetan movement:

The recent Global Buddhist Conference attracted Chinese criticism with President Pratibha Patil and PM Manmohan Singh opting out apparently due to China’s objections – your view?

The fact that India stood its ground in hosting the Buddhist congregation and also having the Dalai Lama as chief guest at the valedictory function is a matter of pride. Unlike the Beijing 2008 Olympics period, the Indian government this year is much more confident about not submitting under Chinese pressure. As a refugee living here in India, India’s rising power is very reassuring.

But many are not reassured – more than 10 Tibetan monks have attempted self-immolation in the past one year. Do you see self-immolation as a legitimate form of protest?

Ever since the 2008 Tibetan uprising, the Chinese government has become insecure in its control over Tibet. Inter-national media and tourists cannot travel freely in Tibet, peoples’ movement is curtailed. It is this draconian police rule that’s suffocating the Tibetans, pushing them to self-immolation. These are desperate acts to protest against Chinese police brutality and demand freedom. Living in India, i have no moral right to question its legitimacy.

Meanwhile, how has the Dalai Lama’s retirement from politics impacted the Tibetan movement?

The devolution of political power from the Dalai Lama should be looked at as an act of renunciation. The Dalai Lama’s decision made the Tibetan people elect their own leadership and be accountable in all political matters. This is our answer to Chinese propaganda which says that exiled Tibetans only want to recreate the old feudal society. But more than that, we’ve had the success of 50 years of experimenting with democracy.

How do you view current Sino-Indian relations?

The 60-year relationship bet-ween India and China that started after the Chinese occupation of Tibet has been marked mostly by fear and suspicion earlier. It’s now characterised by economic competition and misplaced diplomacy. One of the main issues is the 4,057-km border. India’s claim to Arunachal Pradesh is based on the 1914 McMahon Treaty while China doesn’t recognise this treaty.

When the basic approaches are different, a solution is un-likely to come by anytime soon. Today, India is under pressure because of China’s humongous military build-up in Tibet, its control of the Himalayan rivers and China’s instigation of Pakistan. Because of the friction, both countries are militarising the Himalayas from either side – unless Tibet is restored as the buffer zone as before, India and China are forever going to be at cold war.

However, is the ‘Free Tibet’ demand practical?

From India, we see only China’s money and military might. We do not see the 80,000 protest incidents that rock China each year which are beaten down with brutality. And this is getting worse, so much that the Dalai Lama recently observed China’s internal security budget is higher than its external defence budget, meaning they have more enemies on the inside than the outsidea¦their rigidity about control is pushing the country to the brink of an implosion.

Dec 12

By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH

PRAGUE—Exiled Tibetan leaders, alarmed by a wave of suicide protests andwhat they view as deteriorating human-rights conditions for Tibetans inside China, want to restart negotiations with the Chinese government, a senior Tibetan official said.

Tibet’s India-based government-in-exile floated its proposal for talks at the end of November, the official, Kelsang Gyaltsen, said Monday during a visit here by the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhists’ spiritual leader. He said there has been no response from Beijing.

“It’s important to meet and find ways and means to defuse the very tense situation inside Tibet,” Mr. Gyaltsen, a Tibetan diplomat involved in past negotiations with China, said in an interview. “We are ready anytime, anywhere.”

Tibetan leaders say they seek to resolve grievances against Beijing’s policies on religious, cultural and other issues.

Chinese officials weren’t immediately available to comment.

Beijing has in the past blamed unrest in Tibet on the Dalai Lama, who earlier this year said he was stepping down from his political role, and other exiled Tibetans. The two sides last met in early 2010.

In October, two teenaged monks set themselves on fire near a monastery, Tibetan activists said. It was the latest in a series of self-immolations this year by Tibetans that the exile community says are a protest against restrictions on Tibetans’ civil rights and religious freedoms in China.

On Monday, the Dalai Lama, who was visiting Prague for a conference on human rights in Asia, declined to comment on the self-immolations. “At this moment, the best thing is silence,” he said, later adding: “It is very much a political question.”

When protests erupted across Tibetan-populated parts of China in 2008, Beijing responded with large-scale arrests and the deployment of security forces. Mr. Gyaltsen said “intensified repression” was the likely cause of suicide protests, which have tended to involve younger Tibetans.

These younger “generations of Tibetans ate much more politically conscious and assertive,” Mr. Gyaltsen said. They are “much more inclined to express their resentment and genuine grievances through public protests.” The protests result in crackdowns, leading to a “vicious cycle,” he added.

China has made large investments in infrastructure in Tibet in an effort to raise standards of living there. But many Tibetans are unhappy with Chinese policies which, among other things, place limits on religious practices.

In 2008, Tibet’s exiled leaders laid out a blueprint for what they considered an appropriate level autonomy for Tibet under which the region would remain part of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing wasn’t receptive.

10 December 2011

Today, we have gathered here to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1989. On this auspicious occasion, the Kashag extends warm greetings to fellow Tibetans in and outside Tibet and all friends of Tibet and supporters of human rights around the world.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in the name of scientist Alfred Nobel to honour leaders who have made  outstanding contribution to “fraternity between nations, abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace.” His Holiness the Dalai Lama was recognized by the Nobel committee for his “consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people’s struggle to regain their liberty.” This recognition enhanced, in an unprecedented way, the international visibility of the issue of Tibet and for this reason we remain eternally grateful to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and re-affirm our steadfast commitment to non-violence. This year His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his own words, “voluntarily, happily and willingly” devolved all his political powers to a democratically elected leader, thereby fundamentally transforming the 369-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s vision is of a secular democratic Tibetan society, which can stand on its own feet, strengthening and sustaining the movement. This agnanimous decision to separate political and spiritual authority sends a strong message of true leadership. This gesture of the great 14th Dalai Lama is all the more respected around the world and has further strengthened his place among the pantheon of world’s great leaders. The Kashag fully supports the historic statement issued by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his reincarnation on 24th September 2011. The Kashag believes, in the eyes of Tibetan people and the world, the Chinese government has no legitimacy, credibility and authority with regard to reincarnation. Tibetans have absolute faith and loyalty to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and we believe he alone has the right and authority to determine his reincarnation, which is reinforced by the resolutions adopted during 11th Bi-annual Conference of Buddhist leaders in September 2011.

Today, as we also mark the 63rd Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is unfortunate that conditions in Tibet have significantly worsened in recent times. The Chinese government continues to violate the most basic human rights of Tibetans enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Due to the occupation of Tibet and the crackdown that ensued the 2008 peaceful protests, civil and political rights of Tibetan people are repressed, not to mention economic marginalization, social inequality, cultural assimilation and environmental destruction. The human rights situation in Tibet has deteriorated so significantly that Tibetans are resorting to desperate and unprecedented acts. In 2011 alone, twelve Tibetans are known to have committed self-immolation out of which seven have died.

Kalon Tripa in his first official visit to the USA and Europe briefed prominent leaders and officials about the tragic situation in Tibet. They were greatly disturbed and expressed deep concern for the suffering of the Tibetan people and the urgent need to resolve the Tibet issue through peaceful dialogue. Accordingly, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that USA was “alarmed by recent incidents in Tibet of young people lighting themselves on fire in desperate acts of protest. “During these visits, Kalon Tripa reiterated His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s unequivocal and long-standing position that as a Buddhist, life is precious and thus, he has always discouraged drastic actions inside and outside of Tibet, as he did during the peaceful protests in 2008 and

several unto-death hunger strikes in exile. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is also deeply concerned about these tragic developments. Similarly, Kalon Tripa appealed Tibetans to end their unto-death hunger strikes in May this year in India, because we need to live and lead our movement. In the long-term interest of the Tibetan cause, we urge Tibetans to focus on secular and monastic education to provide the necessary human resources and the capability to strengthen and sustain our movement. As a gesture of mourning for the self-immolators and their families, the Kashag organized a day-long prayer on Wednesday, October 19, which was graced by the presence of His Holiness Dalai Lama and other important lamas. The Kashag urges Tibetans everywhere to recite mani or other prayers every Wednesday for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the victims of human rights violations in Tibet, including the self-immolators and their families. On Wednesday, January 4, 2012, during the Kalachakra teachings in Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment, the Kashag will also organize a mass prayer so that the truth may prevail in Tibet. Human Rights Day is a time for people and governments to reflect about the meaning, importance and need for basic rights. To the government of China, we want to say that the only way to bring about real peace and stability in Tibet is by respecting the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people. We call upon China to release all political prisoners who are sentenced under various pretexts without fair trial and to stop all repressive policies currently being implemented across Tibetan areas, and to resolve the Tibetan issue peacefully through dialogue.We would like people and governments everywhere to recognize and reward the long-standing and genuine commitment of Tibetans in democracy and non-violence. Such expression of support will go a long way in encouraging other movements and freedom struggles to follow suit, thereby paving a path to a more democratic and peaceful world for the 21st century. Lastly, we urge the United Nations and the international community to send fact-finding delegations to Tibet and assess the gross human rights violations and ground situation firsthand. Independent media and liberal Chinese intellectuals should also be allowed access.As always, we take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to the government and people of India for their hospitality and generosity to Tibetans for more than five decades.

May His Holiness the Dalai Lama live long and may all his wishes be fulfilled.