སློབ་དཔོན་ཆོས་རྒྱལ་བསྟན་འཛིན།

Source: phayul.com

Dharamsala, February 4: In reports coming out of Tibet, three Tibetans have self-immolated on February 3 in the undersieged town of Serthar in eastern Tibet.

A Tibetan in exile with contacts in the region told Phayul that two Tibetans survived the self-immolation but one is feared dead.

“The three Tibetans called for the unity of the Tibetan people and protested against the Chinese government,” the Tibetan who didn’t want to be named said.

The two who have reportedly survived have been identified as Tsering, around 60 years of age and Kyari, around 30. The third Tibetan who is feared dead cannot be identified at the time of reporting.

Serthar has been under an undeclared martial law with a heavy military lockdown since the January 24 mass protests. At least six Tibetans were reportedly shot dead in indiscriminate police firings on unarmed Tibetans.

Preceding the mass demonstrations, Tibetans in rural villages in Serthar had carried out protests on January 18 and 22 while a larger demonstration was also reported on January 23 in Serthar town where a banner reading: “We protest against failed Chinese policies in Tibet” was unfurled.

The same source told Phayul that in the January 18 protests, a large number of ‘wind horse’ prayer scrolls with the Tibetan national flag and slogans calling for the Dalai Lama’s long life and ‘Victory to Tibet’ printed on the backside were spread in the region.

Following the protests, the entire region has been cut off from the outside world with no phone or internet connections. The roads leading into the region remain blocked as earlier shown by a CNN report in which its reporters were detained and sent back while trying to enter the region.

In photos received by Phayul of the January 24 Serthar protests yesterday, Chinese military personnel could be seen severely beating and dragging Tibetans on the road.

Since Tapey’s self-immolation in 2009, 19 Tibetans have set themselves on fire demanding the return of the Dalai Lama and protesting China’s occupation of Tibet.

Amnesty International in a release last week called on China to avoid using excessive force in response to Tibetan protests and expressed fear of “further violence and bloodshed” in Tibet.

DHARAMSHALA: The organising committee of the 32nd Kalachakra Initiation released a statement of income and expenditure incurred during the 32nd Kalachakra Initiation at Bodh Gaya.

The organising committee of the 32nd Kalachakra Initiation.

A total income of Rs 32,93,33,249.00 (Thirty two crores ninety three lakhs thirty three thousand two hundred and forty nine) was earned while expenses of Rs 25,78,33,249.00 (Twenty five crore seventy eight lakhs thirty three thousand two hundred and forty nine) was incurred for the Kalachakara Initiations, the statement said.

The remaining 7 crores and 15 lakhs has been disbursed for charitable purposes through registered organisations, it noted. (more…)

New York Times, January 28, 2012

By MICHAEL WINES

CHENGDU, China — This regional metropolis is roughly 200 miles from the wave of protest by ethnic Tibetans that is sweeping the towering mountains of western Sichuan Province. But take a stroll through Chengdu’s Tibetan quarter, and the tensions generated by the distant unrest become palpable.

Faced with the largest outbreak of Tibetan unrest since riots in Lhasa and elsewhere in 2008, the government is taking no chances that the turmoil — which has included Chinese forces firing on and killing some demonstrators will spread.

Armed soldiers in dun-colored camouflage trooped up and down Wuhouci Hengjie, a tree-shaded lane that is home to two government offices. Police cars, vans and even tow trucks, their red-and-blue light bars flashing, were stationed every 50 to 100 yards. Bands of police officers patrolled the sidewalks; on one corner, they upbraided an angry Tibetan man as anxious women grabbed his arms, pulling him away. (more…)

28.1.2012

Tibetan Youth Association in Europe based in Zürich, Swiss organized peaceful demonstration in solitary for Tibetans in Tibet. At around 1400hr demonstrators walk through Zurich city and reached Chinese Embassy at 1500hr.  Organized this demonstration in solidarity with those Tibetans who offered their life for the cause of Tibet.  Around 200  Tibetans and supporters are participated for 3 hours demonstration. Organizers appeal to the participants to join forthcoming 10th March, 2012 which likely to organize somewhere in European capital Brussels . Demonstration concluded in front of Chinese Embassy, Zurich with Tibetan Notional Anthem.

26, Jan, 2012

BEIJING—Security forces in a restive Tibetan region of China killed a second person in as many days, according to state-run media, amid intensifying riots and growing international criticism that threatens to cast a shadow over a landmark visit to the U.S. next month by Vice President Xi Jinping.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday that police opened fire on rioters in Seda county in China’s western Sichuan province on Tuesday. The county is in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which has become a hot spot of Tibetan political activism and the site of protests and multiple self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans in recent months.

Xinhua quoted local police on Wednesday as saying rioters attacked a police station with stones, knives and gasoline bottles Tuesday afternoon, and that 14 police were injured. The London-based advocacy group Free Tibet said at least two Tibetans were killed in the incident and others were injured.

The accounts couldn’t be verified with residents in Seda on Wednesday. Officials from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing couldn’t be reached to comment. Government offices were closed for the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday. (more…)

Erlangen, January 16: The German Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid, Markus Löning has called for an end to the repressive political environment in Tibet saying that further repression will fail to reduce the despair of the Tibetan people.

“The Chinese government should work toward creating a political environment that will relax the tensions in the Tibetan region,” Löning said last week.

The German Human Rights Commissioner was speaking to representatives of the Tibet Initiative Deutschland (TID) in Berlin.

Löning said that the recent wave of self-immolations in Tibet “is an expression of the sustained discontent and desperation of the Tibetan people in China.”

In the past 11 months, 16 Tibetans have set their bodies on fire demanding the return of the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile and protesting China’s continued occupation of Tibet.

The most recent case of self-immolation that occurred on January 14 in the besieged Ngaba region of eastern Tibet, which alone has seen 11 Tibetans set themselves ablaze, sparked an impromptu demonstration by over 700 Tibetans. Chinese security forces fired live ammunition on the crowd killing an elderly Tibetan woman. The casualties are believed to be much higher.

In a release, TID said that representatives of the organisation met with the Human Rights Commissioner Löning to deliver 19,245 signatures demanding the immediate release of political prisoners in Tibet.

“The repression taking place in monasteries and the persecution of intellectuals demonstrate that the Chinese leadership is pursuing the systematic destruction of Tibetan identity,” the Chairman of TID, Wolfgang Grader said.

In 2010, Löning had met with Lhamo Tso, the wife of the imprisoned filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen during her Europe tour to garner support for her husband’s release.

Schaffhausen, January 2: India today summoned the Chinese Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi to lodge a high-level protest over the ill treatment meted out to an Indian diplomat based in Shanghai.

The diplomat, S Balachandran, was injured and hospitalised following an assault by a large group of Chinese traders in a 






































court in the eastern business hub of Yiwu. He was on an official mission to secure the release of two Indian traders who had been held hostage for two weeks by locals, demanding payment of their dues.

“We have taken it up pretty strongly with the Chinese, that this is no way to treat a diplomat, that he should be allowed access to medication,” source at the Indian ministry of external affairs were quoted as saying.

S Balachandran had to spend five hours in the court over prolonged negotiations where he declared that he was diabetic, but was not allowed medication or food.

The 46-year old diplomat had to be rushed to hospital when he fainted after being “manhandled” by the crowd that tried to snatch the two kidnapped Indians who clung to him as he tried to leave the courtroom.

The incident took place on the night on December 31 in the presence of police and the judge.

Riva Ganguly Das, the Indian Consul General in Shanghai, was quoted as saying that Balachandran was “manhandled” while trying to secure the release of the two Indians.

Although local officials reportedly apologised to the Indian diplomat following the incident, India doesn’t seem to be in a mood to tone down its protest.

According to media reports, India will be issuing a demarche to China over the ill treatment of its diplomat in Yiwu.

India’s charge de affaires Rahul Chabbra would make the demarche to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Relations between the two Asian giants hit a rocky patch recently when India cancelled high-level talks with China over the long drawn boundary dispute after Beijing demanded New Delhi scrap a religious gathering where the Dalai Lama was scheduled to speak.

December, 18. 2011

Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic’s first president after the Velvet Revolution against communist rule, has died at the age of 75.

The former dissident playwright, who suffered from prolonged ill-health, died on Sunday morning, his secretary Sabina Tancecova said.

As president, he presided over Czechoslovakia’s transition to democracy and a free-market economy.

He oversaw its peaceful 1993 split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Havel first came to international fame as a dissident playwright in the 1970s through his involvement with the human rights manifesto Charter 77.

‘Great European’

Tributes have been pouring in for the man many consider a driving force in the overthrow of communist rule in eastern Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed Havel as a “great European” in a letter of condolence to Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

“His fight for freedom and democracy was as unforgettable as his great humanity,” wrote Mrs Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany.

“We Germans in particular have much for which we are grateful to him. We mourn this loss of a great European with you,” she wrote.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “deeply saddened” and that Europe owed Havel a “profound debt”.

“Havel devoted his life to the cause of human freedom. For years, Communism tried to crush him, and to extinguish his voice. But Havel could not be silenced.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter: “Vaclav Havel was one of the greatest Europeans of our age. His voice for freedom paved way for a Europe whole and free.”

(more…)

Erlangen, Deutchland, December 16: Over 3000 Chinese students went on a rampage Wednesday night, beating Tibetan students and breaking into their dormitories and class rooms in a Chinese vocational institute in Chengdu.

According to the Beijing based award-winning Tibetan writer Woeser, the incident took place at a Chinese railway engineering vocational institute in the provincial capital city of Chengdu.Around 200 Tibetan students were held hostage as 3000 Chinese students attacked their dormitory, trashing the Tibetan students and breaking the doors, windows, and furniture.

“The Chinese students shouted ‘Beat a Tibetan, Get an extra credit,’ and broke the doors of the Tibetan dormitories in the institute,” wrote Woeser on her blog.

Many Tibetan students have been reportedly hospitalised carrying severe injuries.

After the school authorities failed to quell the clashes, police had to be called to control the situation. More than 1000 People’s Armed Police personnel arrived at the scene and reportedly hurled tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Several police and school vehicles were also damaged in the clashes. Woeser writes in her blog that the following day, on December 15, when Tibetans students came to have lunch at the school mess, Chinese students, upon seeing the Tibetans, created a furore saying, ‘Han Chinese have been victorious over the proud Tibetans’.

The reasons for the clashes are not yet clearly known as the situation continues to remain tense.

According to Bawa Kalsang Gyaltsen, a member of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, messages saying ‘Don’t mind the injuries, be proud of standing up for you nation’ had appeared on social network sites following the clashes. News on the clashes briefly appeared on a few local news portals but were quickly removed.