The Tibet Post International-Online-Newspaper

Self-Immolation

Tibetans

Sparks Protest in

in-Exile Hold

Tibet

Democratic Election

Page 08.

Vol. 01, Issue 38, 31 March 2011 Solidarity With deceaced Monk

I n t e r n a t i o n a l B o d - K y i - Cha- Trin

Bi-Monthly

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Rs.5

National Meeting to Discuss His Holiness' Political Renunciation

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

A candlelight vigil was held last night (17 March) in the Tibetan Exile Community in Dharamshala, northern India, in memory of the young Buddhist monk who immolated himself Wednesday in Amdo province in Tibet in protest to Chinese oppression. Photo: TPI

Dharamshala: A candlelight vigil was held last night (17 March) in the Tibetan Exile Community in Dharamshala, northern India, in memory of the young Buddhist monk who immolated himself Wednesday in Amdo province in Tibet in protest to Chinese oppression.

The vigil began at the Main Square with a Continues on Page 10....

Students In Tibet Hold Hunger Strike

Ethnic Tibetan students protest against curbs on the use of their language in the western Chinese town of Rebkong October 19, 2010. The students marched through Tongren, also known as Rebkong, on Tuesday, without police interference, residents contacted by telephone and the London-based Free Tibet campaign group said. photo: TPI flies

Dharamshala: - Following Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama's decision to handover political authority to a new elected leader, the Tibetan parliament-in-exile has constituted a three-member high level committee headed by Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, the chairman of Tibetan administration. An additional session of the 14th Tibetan Parliament and second Tibetan national general meeting will be held to discuss how to deal with the situation.

The following is a report published on Monday

by Tibetan official media Tibet Net, titled "the final Outcome of the 11th Session of the 14th Tibetan Parliament held from 14 - 25 March 2011."

In his message to the 11th Session of the 14th Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, presenting a letter based on sound reason and Tibet's history and reality, said "... amendments to the Charter on this occasion must conform to the framework of a democratic system in which the political leadership is elected by the people for a specific term." This message was read out on the opening day of the Parliament session on 14 March 2011.

The Kashag made its statement on the second day on 15 March, following which the whole day was devoted to intensive deliberation on His

His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. File Photo: TPI

Holiness' message. On 16 March, the members of Parliament met separately for a meeting and debated on the issue. On the basis of these deliberations, the speaker and deputy speaker issued two draft resolutions to the Parliament on

China Arrests Four Tibetans including Two Writers Over 2 Books

Dharamshala: - Tibetan students from a middle school in Nagba county staged a hunger strike to pay their respects to Phuntsok, 21-year-old 'Martyred' monk of Kirti monastery in Tibet who set himself on fire to mark the third anniversary of the March 16, 2008 Chinese deadly Continues on Page 5...

17 March. Accordingly, three sub-committees of the members of Parliament were formed, which held intensive deliberations. An official draft resolution was finalized based on the proposals, which were Continues on Page 3

Prayers For Victims of Tsunami

Tibetans & Japanese Prayer gathering in Tokyo to hold a prayer for the victems of Tsunami and earthquake, 26 March 2011. Photo: TPI

Tokyo: A grand prayer gathering was conducted at Gokokuji, a Japanese Buddhist temple in Tokyo to mourn and to pray for the victims of the recent earthquake of 9.0 magnitude and tsunami that devastated the North-Eastern Japan and areas around it. Tibet House Japan organized the prayer event in collaboration with Association of See on Page 6....

Mr. Tibet Will Be Held On 7th June 2011

Pay Nepal to Crackdown on Tibetans

Mr. Mahesh Yadav (C) Miss Tibet 2009, Tenzin Choezom (R) and Mr. Trinley Jampa (L) holding a press conference in Dharamshala, India on 24th March 2011.

Photo: TPI

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: The opening of nominations has been announced Thursday (24 March) at a press conference in Dharamshala, India, for the competitions of 'Mr. Tibet' and 'Tibet Idol' 2011, both of which will be held on June 7 at the TIPA in McLeod Ganj. The competitions are presented

by Aman Gandhi Film Productions and World Tibet Congress, and aim for the 'Promoting of World Peace & Non-Violence Struggle for Free Tibet'.

The event has received the endorsement of both the Central Tibetan Administration and His Continues on Page 8......

Mr Gedun Tsering at office The Tibet Post International news agency on 19th March 2011. Photo: TPI

By Cornelius Lundsgaard and Pema Tso, The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: - The Tibet Post International has interviewed the 24 year old Tibetan environmentalist activist writer, Gendun Tsering, about the circumstances concerning the arrests of 5 Tibetans in Ngaba county last year, for allegedly being linked to "banned" writings and "anti-government" articles.

Originally from the Tibetan town of Serdeu and monk of the Rongtha monastery in Khyungchu County, Gendun recently fled into exile in India after being threatened by Chinese authorities. The threats came after he had an article published in the Tibetan cultural magazine, Sonmig.

Speaking of the arrested Tibetans, Gendun explained that one of them is his close friend and

colleague, 23 year old, Tsering Dhondup, also a monk of Rongtha monastery. His arrest was apparently based on his assistance to Gendun in publishing two books, "Migchu" (Tears) authored

by Gendun and "Sonmig" (Alive eye), a collection of articles written by Tibetan writers on situation inside Tibet and edited by Gendun.

Tsering Dhondup had been a fugitive since he found out the authorities were looking to arrest him, but on Feb 26 2010, they finally caught up with him and he was arrested. The dramatic arrest took place in his hometown of Serdeu where he dared a visit to his family during Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Spending time with his younger brother in a teashop, the police apprehended who they thought was Tsering Dhondup, however, it was Continues on Page 6.......

A Nepal police Repatriating Tib

By Cornelius Lundsgaard, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: - China once again uses its financial power to convince the Nepal government to suppress and arrest Tibetan refugees as they cross over the Tibet-Nepal border to escape persecution.

A Chinese army delegation of 18 officers last week, led by General Chen Bindge, visited Nepal.

Continues on Page 2......

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31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

TPI VIEWS & ANALYSIS

The True Implications of H.H the Dalai Lama’s Retirement

The Tibet Post

US Analyst Predicts Increased Tensions in Tibet

Article by James Dunn The Tibet Post

His Holiness the Dalai Lama walking to the main Tibetan temple in Dharamshala, India on 14th March 2011 during a teaching session. Photo: TPI

London: - While countries such as Libya and Egypt fight to overthrow their leaders, Tibet are insisting theirs stays in power. The Dalai Lama has ruled longer than Colonel Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak combined, yet His Holiness's dedication and compassion has left women crying in the streets and politicians pleading in parliament in the wake of his announcement of retirement.

For the Tibetan people, His Holiness is understandably considered irreplaceable, however, his announcement has forced people to assess a future without His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Since the 5th Dalai Lama's move to secular and religious rule in 1642, Dalai Lama's have had complete control over the running of all aspects of Tibetan life. It is unsurprising therefore that the Tibetan people are wary of such a historic shift in ruling. His announcement has not come as a colossal revelation, democracy has been taking supported steps since the 1960s.

The Dalai Lama was instrumental in these improvements and has formed the support, which the Tibetan Government in Exile has more often than not used as an excuse to avoid drastic changes, leaving decisions up to His Holiness.

Since the creation of the Kalon Tripa role in 2001, His Holiness the Dalai Lama believed that the role of leader of Tibet would be shared, however, in his speech to the parliament following his announcement he was clear that this hadn't happened, "No system of governance can ensure stability and progress if it depends solely on one person without the support and participation of the people in the political process. One man rule is both anachronistic and undesirable."

Despite His Holiness the Dalai Lama's strong aspiration to retire, the outgoing Kalon Tripa is highly apprehensive, stating that without His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the legitimacy of the Tibet Government in Exile might be undermined. The exile community, he said, has been functional largely because its members accepted His Holiness the Dalai Lama's authority. It is critical, as the Kalon Tripa has highlighted, that the Tibet Government in Exile needs public approval to succeed in the future and with the elections yet to take place and with previous poor attendance, its legitimacy remains to be seen. Penpa Tsering, the speaker of the parliament

has also voiced his unease, believing that up to 90% of the members of parliament feel there is no way that the Tibetan cause and His Holiness can be separated. The political representatives have yet to make their decision on whether or not they will allow the changes in the constitution to be made to allow His Holiness to retire but discussions are set to rage on until the 25th March.

The changes in the constitution are in essence His Holiness' last will and testament, setting out how Tibet can continue after the loss of its sole figurehead. The change will put the responsibility for Tibetans physical well-being at the feet of secular rulers.

He understandably wants to break with tradition and set the hand over of power in motion prior to his death to avoid the likelihood of religious and political chaos. The Tibetan community has been in a constant state of uncertainty since the Chinese invasion and His Holiness the Dalai Lama's aim is to create some sort of stability. During His address on the 14th of March to the members of the Fourteenth Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies, he made this aspiration clear, "it is necessary that we establish a sound system of governance while I remain able and healthy, in order that the exile Tibetan administration can become self-reliant rather than being dependant on His Holiness the Dalai Lama".

The legacy His Holiness is putting into place will outlive him, for that reason he has been so adamant that he be allowed to step down. After the death of His Holiness, there will be no strong advocate for a non-violent movement with the Panchen Lama disappeared and the Karmapa ordinarily shying away from political matter it will be the task of the government to avoid the radicalisation of a generation. If the non-violent approach is not upheld, China will yearn for the stability His Holiness ensure and come down harshly.

A further religious motive for His Holiness' move to retire politically is to avoid religious duplication. There is a distinct likelihood that when His Holiness the Dalai Lama dies in his stead will be two Dalai Lamas both vying for the acceptance of the Tibetan and international community. Much like that of the Panchen Lama and the Karmapa, one will be indentified by the

Tibetans living in India, the other will be chosen by the Peoples Republic of China. The Chinese government recently passed legislation stating that the government alone has the absolute say on choosing the future Dalai Lama.

Both Dalai Lamas will be chosen via untraditional means, since the 14th Dalai Lama says that his reincarnation will not be born inside Tibet while it remains under occupation and the other chosen by secular administrative means. Isolated from the traditional methods of selection, the Tibetan Government in Exile will pivotal in promoting the true selection to ease Tibetans inside Tibet who will undoubtedly be caught up in the emotions of having a Dalai Lama back on Tibetan soil.

Despite the critical nature of the transfer of power I understand the Tibetan politicians' apprehension. The role of the Kalon Tripa is incredibly new (first elected in 2001) and created in exile thus it has no power or influence inside Tibet. All three candidates are laymen who have spent no time living inside Tibet further adding to their obscurity. The Tibetan Government in Exile is not recognised by the international community and the Kalon Tripa title is only respected in the Tibetan community. The Dalai Lama in comparison harbours vast international respect, meeting with presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and Queens. Arguably, His Holiness singlehandedly raised the Tibetan issue into the international spotlight and has successful kept it there for over half a century. In contrast, the Uyghur whose plight is equally as harrowing remain in relative obscurity due arguably because of the lack of a media attractive figurehead. For these exact reasons His Holiness the Dalai Lama's call to step down is not only wise, its necessary.

After the death of His Holiness, the entire Tibetan populous throughout the world will look to the Kalon Tripa for direction, however, with the nature of politics unlike religion, not everyone will agree with decisions made by the leader. It is evident that in terms of opinions politics, Tibetan are a split nation. A recent opinion poll stated that 23% say because of Kalon Tripa electoral process Tibetans are more divided now than ever before. The question that lingers in Tibetan offices, restaurants and monasteries in Dharamsala is do Tibetans need a democracy in exile? With a people who have had change thrust upon them by Chinese invasion, the idea of change is understandably met with fierce trepitation. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has remained a strong and reliable constant throughout the changes offering support, this move has reawoken the fear in Tibetans across the world that stability is not ensured.

His Holiness he Dalai Lama's call to retire has opened up debate throughout the world as to the future of Tibet following the death of His Holiness.

The future is uncertain but what is certain that Tibetan politics and religion despite their separation by the retirement, will never be the same again and without a authoritative leader to rely upon the Tibetan cause will never be as strong again.

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: The recent selfimmolation of the young Tibetan monk Phuntsok and Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama's retirement announcement will probably lead to increased tension in Tibet, if the predictions of Robert Barnett, director of Modern Tibetan Studies at New York's Colombia University, prove correct.

In part of an interview published in the French online version of Le Monde, Barnett responds to the question of whether the Dalai Lama's withdrawal from political life will negatively affect Tibetan morale, saying that the outcome of His Holiness' decision will depend on the spin placed on the news by Chinese government propaganda.

Barnett points out that Tibetans in larger cities within Tibet have access to accurate information from the foreign news radio broadcasts of Voice of America and Radio Free Asia (who broadcasts the views of the Tibetan Administration in Exile), but that those who live in more rural areas may only have access to Tibetan-language publications approved by China, which will more than likely paint an unsavoury picture of the situation in an attempt to convince the Tibetan people that the His Holiness the Dalai Lama is abandoning them.

Although he believes firmly that Tibetans within Tibet remain sceptical of what they read in the Chinese media and will most likely not be convinced by propaganda, he admitted to being concerned nonetheless that the restriction of information and censorship

by the Chinese regime could lead to confusion among rural populations.

Regardless of how the Chinese communist government decides to portray the Dalai Lama in its statecontrolled media, however, Barnett has confidence that "Tibetans will in reality form for themselves a fairly precise idea of the situation", and that they may also realise that their leader-in-exile is promising them democracy, and is in actual fact offering it to them, whereas their Chinese overlords have been promising a form of democracy for many years but have as yet failed to deliver.

In relation to the death last week of Phuntsok, the young Kirti monk who set himself alight in protest to Chinese oppression, Barnett is doubtful that many outside of the eastern regions of Tibet, where foreign radio broadcasts are popularly listened to, will hear about the incident. He continues that those who do hear the news will be 'shocked' to learn that the 20 year old monk found it necessary to sacrifice himself and break his vows in order to have the Tibetan voice heard, but adds that it is not likely to lead to more widespread protests.

Furthermore, Barnett suggests that if the Tibetan people in Tibet manage to see through the Chinese propaganda veil and understand that what the Dalai Lama is offering them is democracy, then "the support and admiration towards the Dalai Lama has every chance of growing, which will push the Chinese to be on the defensive, where they have always been".

China Will Continue to ............

Officially the purpose was to give Nepal military aid as well as weapons worth around US$ 20 million.

According to Asia News, however, the underlying purpose of the visit was to boost cooperation between Beijing and Kathmandu against future anti-Chinese actions by exiled Tibetan communities in the country.

In an interview with Asia News on March 24 Rameshwor Acharya, ex Nepali ambassador to China said that "China's concerns over Nepal are growing" and that "the visit shows that China wants the support of our army to control anti-Chinese activities following the resignation of the Dalai Lama". He further suggested that while H.H. the Dalai Lama is known for his non-violent approach, Beijing is afraid that his successor might take a more confrontative stance.

According to Deutsche Presse Agentur, local media reported Monday that the Chinese delegation had asked

Nepal government to put an end to the influx of Tibetans across the border and into the district of Sindhupalchowk, and also indirectly had requested Nepali officials to extradite arrested Tibetans to China.

After a meeting in the border town of Khasa, Sindhupalchowk chief district officer Bishnu Kumar Karki said "They urged us not to allow anti-Chinese activities in our soil," and further reiterated that Nepal is committed to implement the agreements between the two countries and following the laws.

On 11 March, police violently stopped a prayer meeting at the Bauddha Buddhist temple in Kathmandu.

Dozens of Buddhist monks had gathered to mark the 60th anniversary of Tibet's invasion. On 13 February, police prevented the Tibetan community from holding its own internal elections, by bursting into polling stations and seizing ballots and other electoral material.

TPI H.H THE DALAI LAMA

The Tibet Post

31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

3

His Holiness Celebrates Tibetan His Holiness Offers Reassurance to Tibetan People faith and belief. He held that the leaders, and explaining that his wish was Medical Institute's Golden Jubilee scientists, who usually take no interest simply to revert back to that time by

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Tibetan medical and Astro. Institute, Dharamshala, India on 23 March 2011. Photo: TPI

By Tibetan Official Media, Tibet Net

Dharamshala: Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on Wednesday (23 March) visited Tibetan Medical and Astr. Insitute based in the Himalayan town of Dharamshala to celebrate 50 years of its establishment on 23rd March 1961.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the occasion said, "Our Medical and Astro benefits whole human kind, Tibetan Medicine gives it medical service to whole of human kind, so the staff in the institute should work harder with a wider perspective". He said, there should be thousands of medical doctors graduating from the institute to benefit the people.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, "Tibetan Medical and Astro. Institute has been a successful institute for preserving and promoting Tibetan medicine and astrology. However it still has to improve more and develop further on a larger scale". His Holiness said, "One should not be content with any endeavour. One should improve and learn new knowledge".

His Holiness said, doctors should use their personal learning through experience and should record that knowledge for sharing and exchange with other doctors. Their knowledge should be helpful to the institute, added His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

His Holiness further said that the doctors should always have an altruistic mind with a human touch to cure the patients

more effectively.

Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche on the occasion said, Central Tibetan Administration has great expectation from TMAI as it has legal support from the Government of India which facilitates new opportunities to develop and innovate.

Dr. Rajeev Bindal, Himachal Pradesh Health Minister, present as the distinguished guest, congratulated TMAI for its golden jubilee celebration and for the number of medical and astrological publications made by the institute.

Dr. Rajeev Bindal said, "We (TMAI and HP Govt.) can work hand-in-hand to develop Ayurveda and Tibetan Medicine to benefit human kind".

TMAI has presented a grand photo exhibition showcasing photos of MenTsee-Khang's developments and working, and displayed scroll paintings of Tibetan medical practices, herbal medicines, astrological presentations and records of patients with their personal views on medication by the TMAI, and many other presentations.

Today's celebration included presentation of tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the pioneer staff members of the institute, presentation of awards to staff members for more than two decade's service, launch of new publications of TMAI, award distribution to 2010 student toppers and the launch of Men-Tsee website of the TMAI.

Dharamshala: Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet has given an address this morning (Saturday) at the main temple in McLeod Ganj, India, speaking to an audience of Tibetans and foreign supporters on many relevant issues and reassuring them that in devolving his political authority he is in no way deserting the Tibetan people.

Following an initial prayer His Holiness opened today's festival marking the fifteenth day and end of Losar, saying that "Since we are refugees, since we have been living in exile, we may have missed one year but we have celebrated Monlam every year." Expressing a deep sense of pride towards Tibet and the Tibetan people, he spoke of the preservation of Tibetan culture and also proclaimed that "We have a language with which we can study logic and epistemology, a language also compatible with Sanskrit. We should be very proud of this language."

He told the audience that one of the main issues facing the people was ignorance of the true meaning of Buddhism, saying that when he travels he always "asks many Buddhists what Buddhism is, and many of them don't have any real, good answer. (...) Most of us really do not understand and do not study Buddhism", and must make an effort to engage in good practices and live by Buddhist values.

His Holiness addressed himself to the New Arrivals from Tibet, saying that in China Buddhists had to follow strict communist rules and many had undergone Chinese re-education, adding directly, "so I'm talking to you. (...) I'm telling you, newcomers, to study Buddhism for a peaceful community." He encouraged them to not be provoked by anger, though they may be prone to do so, saying that people should instead always confront things without becoming angry and use our human intelligence to deal with problems.

Speaking of a discussion he once had with a group of scientists, His Holiness explained the unique logical nature of Buddhism by telling of how they had all realised that science and Buddhism have several things in common- relativity and the interdependent and impermanent nature of all things, and reason above

........ Discuss His Holiness' Political Renunciation passed unanimously or by majority, submitted by the three sub-committees in their recommendations.

After holding a whole day discussion on 18 March, the Assembly passed a three-point resolution "strongly beseeching His Holiness the Dalai Lama to continue to remain as both the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people". The resolution was presented to His Holiness through his secretaries on 19 March. The office of His Holiness in its response said "There is no change in His Holiness the Dalai Lama's decision as conveyed in detail in his earlier message. Therefore the resolution could not be accepted and have been directed to send it back."

Accordingly, a general meeting of the deputies was convened on the morning of 21 March and it was agreed to form a working committee. On 21 March, an official resolution no 15 was passed to formally constitute a working committee

comprising of members of the Kashag and Parliament. On 23 March, the working committee presented its recommendations and related documents to the House. The deputies held intensive discussion on the recommendations on 24 and 25 March.

A resolution was passed.

The members of the 14th Tibetan Parliament in Exile unanimously approved the following resolutions: 1. To implement His Holiness the Dalai Lama's message to the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies to devolve his formal authority to an elected leadership, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will constitute a Charter Redrafting Committee comprising of members of the Kashag and Parliament.

2. The Charter Redrafting Committee will prepare a report based on the Action Plan proposed by Working Committee, the outcome of the discussions during the current Parliament session,

consultations with legal experts and further developments. The committee is required to submit its report to the Parliamentary Secretariat by 11 April 2011.

3. Necessary changes will be made to the proposed amendments to the Charter presented by Working Committee's recommendations as per its proposals in the foreword and Article 1 of the second annexure. In order to obtain His Holiness the Dalai Lama's assent to put the amendments in the Charter, the Tibetan National General Meeting will be held.

The date and venue of the meeting will be decided by the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Parliament. Participants to the meeting will be same as in the earlier general meeting.

4. An additional session of the 14th Tibetan Parliament will be convened to implement the final recommendations of the second Tibetan national general meeting.

in religion, found they could understand and relate to Buddhism because it does not contain any belief of the concepts of a creator or soul.

Using Hu Jintao's misleading and unrealised concept of a ‘Harmonious Society' as a model, he declared that true harmony was what the people really needed, but that "this has to come not from fear but from winning (the people's) confidence. Harmonious Society must come from Compassion." He added that nobody wants suffering, but that through ignorance human beings often cause suffering to themselves.

Stating that "Many Tibetans have suffered untimely deaths", His Holiness also acknowledged the tragic passing on Wednesday of the young monk from

devolving his political duties. This, he explained, would allow for the continuation of the democratisation process and a government elected by the people, which would be much more meaningful. He admitted to feeling slightly constrained by his political role and said that after devolving power "I could work more for the promotion of human values and religious harmony" for Tibetans and people across the world.

His Holiness also attended to the need to reassure the Tibetan people, both inside Tibet and in exile, that "they don't have to worry" and that he is not abandoning them. He stressed the importance of forming a democratic system of government, acknowledging

His Holiness the readdressing about his retirement at the main Tibetan temple, Dharamshala, India on 19 March 2011. Photo: TPI/Sangay Dorje

Kirti Monastery, Phuntsok, who immolated himself in Amdo Ngaba in protest to Chinese suppression, and said that for these people many prayers should be dedicated.

He also recognised the fact that it is not only the Tibetan and other minority peoples enduring difficulties in China, saying that even the Chinese suffer from constant fear and anxiety and live lives of intimidation, illustrating his point with an anecdote about several Chinese people he had met in Taiwan, who felt like they were in a completely different country there and who admitted to feeling constantly constrained and fearful back in mainland China.

He criticised China for holding onto old communist ideology and not looking into ways to reform and change "in order to be on par with the rest of the world", making a comparison between the stagnant political situation in China and that of the Tibetan people by pointing out that in his lifetime "even in exile changes and progress have been made", referring to the Tibetan exile democratisation process which has given him so much pride.

"Even as a child I thought the system where one person has authority, spiritual and temporal authority, was not a good system" he said, adding that he always saw such a system as being biased, and that immediately after his enthronement he began a reform committee. He announced that he felt a great sense of achievement for the Tibetan community, in relation to the Kalon Tripa being elected by the people with no involvement from him, saying that democracy was his gift to the Tibetan people.

"I think it's not good that I, the Dalai Lama, have all the spiritual and temporal authority" he stated, reminding the audience that the first four Dalai Lamas had had no temporal authority, despite being the Tibetan people's spiritual

the trust the Tibetan people and people around the world placed in him and promising that he would still remain the Tibetan spiritual leader and support his people's struggle.

With a determined voice he declared "I am not disheartened; I have not given up on you. I am a Tibetan, from the land of snow, and every Tibetan has a responsibility (to help the Tibetan cause)". He affirmed that his decision would bring great benefits for the Tibetan people in the long-run, calling on them to "take full responsibility for this democratisation".

He then spoke about the success of democracy in India, saying that although it was a country with a huge population, many problems and a variety of different languages and cultural traditions, it was very stable as a democratic country. This was a contrast to China, he said, where authorities have to spend an enormous amount of money on internal security, to the point where it outweighs spending on external defence. He laughed, as did many in the audience, at the very idea of the need for such extravagant measures in order to maintain internal stability, expressing the view that "things are changing but they (the Communist Party) wish to stay the same".

He went on to say that China's claim that there is no ‘Tibet issue' should be seen clearly as a lie by the world, and that those in Tibet hoping for independence had a right to do so and to want the independence of their country restored, however the ‘MiddleWay Approach' was the only realistic and mutually beneficial option. He also expressed the hope that people in Tibet would be able to get news of his reassurances to the Tibetan people ahead of his handover of political authority, either by radio or through communication with Tibetans in exile, who should pass on his message of continued support and solidarity.

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31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

TPI INTERNATIONAL

US Senator Impressed by His Holiness' Authority to an Elected Body

Senator Feinstein introduces bill to repeal Defense of Marriage Act and restore the rights of all lawfully married couples. Pictured with Jeanne Rizzo and Pali Cooper of Tiburon, California on March 16, 2011. Photo: feinstein.senate.gov

By The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Thursday March 17 has made a speech in the United States Senate expressing her concern at the situation in Tibet, supporting Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama's decision to devolve his formal political authority to an elected leadership as well as his call for fact-finding delegations to Tibet to see for themselves the current situation on the ground.

In the speech, made on the floor of the Senate on March 17, 2011 and also published in the Congressional Record, Senator Feinstein referred to His Holiness the Dalai Lama's message to the Tibetan Parliament on devolving his formal authority to an elected Tibetan leader. She said, "I applaud His Holiness for this decision and I stand ready to do my part to help the Tibetan community in exile transition to a new political structure."

Senator Feinstein also backed the Dalai Lama's call, made in his statement on March 10, 2011 the anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising, for factfinding delegations to Tibet. She said, "I also support His Holiness' call for fact-finding delegations to Tibet, including representatives of international parliamentarians, to see for themselves the current situation on the ground.

"As His Holiness pointed out, similar delegations visited Tibet in the late 1970s and early 1980s and I strongly encourage China to allow them again.

"I believe such delegations could increase awareness about the challenges facing Tibetans and Tibetan culture and enhance dialogue and cooperation with China on finding mutually beneficial solutions," said Feinstein, who is also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Following is the full text of Senator Feinstein's statement.

Congressional Record 112th Congress (2011-2012) TIBET -- (Senate - March 17, 2011) --Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I rise today to express my continuing concern about the current situation in Tibet. Before I do so, I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues a recent statement made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his political future.

In his March 10 statement marking the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan

uprising, His Holiness announced his intention to propose amendments to the Charter for Tibetans in Exile, handing over his formal authority to an elected leader.

Let me read a portion of his message to the Fourteenth Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies: The essence of a democratic system is, in short, the assumption of political responsibility by elected leaders for the popular good. In order for our process of democratization to be complete, the time has come for me to devolve my formal authority to such an elected leadership.

I applaud His Holiness for this decision and I stand ready to do my part to help the Tibetan community in exile transition to a new political structure.

I take great comfort in the knowledge that His Holiness will continue his role as spiritual leader to the Tibetan people and will work tirelessly to preserve the Tibetan culture both inside and outside of Tibet.

I also support His Holiness' call for factfinding delegations to Tibet, including representatives of international parliamentarians, to see for themselves the current situation on the ground.

As His Holiness pointed out, similar delegations visited Tibet in the late 1970s and early 1980s and I strongly encourage China to allow them again.

I believe such delegations could increase awareness about the challenges facing Tibetans and Tibetan culture and enhance dialogue and cooperation with China on finding mutually beneficial solutions.

Indeed, as a friend of His Holiness and as a friend of all Tibetan people, I remain deeply concerned about the situation in Tibet. In 2008, a wave of violence swept across Tibet which was met with violence by the Chinese government.

Reports out of Tibet continue to paint a picture of the suppression the Tibetan culture and people are confronted with.

And despite nine rounds of talks between the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China and envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama , a comprehensive solution to the Tibetan issue remains out of reach. As a friend of China and the Dalai Lama , I am saddened to see the situation in Tibet further deteriorate.

The Dalai Lama has been trying to engage the Chinese leadershipfor more than 50 years. In the 1990s, I carried three letters to President Jiang Zemin from the Dalai Lama requesting a face-to-face meeting. In my view, the Dalai Lama's

concerns are driven by the fact that the Chinese Government continues to suppress the Tibetan way of life.

Yet he has made it clear that he does not support independence for Tibet, but rather meaningful cultural and religious autonomy for the Tibetan people within the People's Republic of China. This can only come about through meaningful dialogue and negotiation, not actions that would undermine Tibetan culture.

As such, I urge the administration to support fact-finding delegations to Tibet and work with our friends and allies in the international community to call on the Chinese Government to begin a substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama on national reconciliation, respect for the Tibetan culture, and meaningful autonomy for Tibet. I have been blessed to call the Dalai Lama a friend for more than 30 years. I first met him during a trip to India and Nepal in the fall of 1978.

During that trip I invited His Holiness to visit San Francisco--where I was mayor at the time--and he accepted. In September 1979, I was delighted to welcome the Dalai Lama to San Francisco to receive his first public recognition in the United States.

During our many conversations, His Holiness often reiterates that, at its core, Buddhism espouses reaching out to help others, particularly the less fortunate. And it encourages us all to be more kind and compassionate. His teachings truly cross all religions, cultures, and ethnic lines.

Over the decades, his principled beliefs have never wavered, yet his teachings have become more expansive. His message of peace and understanding has never been more relevant than it is today.

In the midst of war and bloodshed, the Dalai Lama has been a champion for peace and nonviolence. In his quiet but undeniably firm manner, he challenges all of us to look beyond conflict and harmful rhetoric to seek positive change by embracing dialogue, cooperation, and negotiated solutions. In the face of

The Tibet Post

BBC Ends Mandarin Radio Broadcasts After 70 Yrs

BBC Ends Mandarin Radio Broadcasts After 70 Yrs. File Photo: BBC

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: The BBC's Chinese Service has ended a 70-year period of radio broadcasting in Mandarin by making its final broadcast, citing cuts in government funding -as governments across Europe make budget cuts hoping to avoid a 'Greece-style crisis' - as the cause for the service receiving the axe.

The service began in 1941, eight years before the communist takeover of China and proclamation of the People's Republic of China after years of civil war. It has been an invaluable source of news and current affairs to 'a country

hatred and intolerance, he has faith in love, compassion, and respect. He reminds people from all corners of the globe to move beyond our ethnic, religious, and racial divisions and embrace our common humanity. He encourages us to believe in something bigger than ourselves and work together for a better future.

He sets a wonderful example for all of us, and I am proud to call him friend. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Dalai Lama in working toward a humanitarian solution to the problems plaguing Tibet and the Tibetan people.

starved of information', notably during the Vietnam war and Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong in the 1960s and 1970s, and the 1989 brutal crackdown on dissent by the Chinese regime.

During the dark years before China's period of opening up, Chinese Service employee Joseph Ren says "They (the Chinese public) could hardly get any news about the world, and hardly anything about the rest of China, so they listened to us in secret just to understand the world and understand China itself".

In cutting its radio broadcasting service the BBC joins US government-funded 'Voice of America' in limiting future content access in China to its online version, saying it is 'moving with the times' and that many in China will still be able to access their website by using proxy servers to get around Chinese Internet censorship.

The BBC has described the situation as 'not ideal' but remains confident that its web-service will be able to adequately provide the people of China with accessible, uncensored news and information outside of the communist government's web of propaganda. The end of BBC Chinese Service's radio broadcasts has been labelled 'the end of an era' by publications in China.

90 Million People Quit Chinese Communist Party Since 2004

Banner slogan: CCP is the enemy of the Chinese people, On March 19, 2006, Chinese people in Japan and Japanese people from Tokyo and surrounding areas, even Miyagi and Hokkaido, gathered in Abisu Park in Tokyo to support nine million Chinese who have renounced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and to condemn the CCP's secret Sujiatun Concentration Camp. Photo: Cleacer Wisdom

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: A rally was attended by several hundred people on Sunday (26 March) in Brooklyn, New York, in support of the over 90 million Chinese

who have quite the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 2004. Those who had quit were joined by supporters in a parade led through Chinatown, with many passers-by reported to have also resigned on the spot, and around 25 people who had recently withdrawn from the party proudly held up certificates announcing their decision.

The number of resignations is in fact now estimated to stand at around 92 million, after hitting the 90 million mark last month. Global Service for Quitting the CCP spokesman Dr. Dayong Li claimed that the party 'in no way' represented the Chinese people, urging them to quit the party and its affiliated organisations. Chinese democracy advocate Xiang Huang, who attended the annual rally for the third time on Sunday, added to this his hope that by this time next year the CCP will have been dissolved and the democratic movement currently shaking up the Middle-East will have reached the Chinese nation.

The president of the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) and fellow advocate for the dissolution of the Communist Party, Dr. Zhi Yuan Wang, said it was time for the Chinese people as a whole to try to understand what the regime has done to their country and its people.

The Global Service for Quitting the CCP, a non-profit organisation founded in 2005, now boasts over 100 service centres in more than 30 countries, and encourages the decision of Chinese citizens to resign their membership from the oppressive communist regime which has ruled over China for the past 61 years. At the end of 2009, the CCP counted nearly 78 million members, making it the world's largest political party. It is by law the only party permitted within China.

If you are thinking about quitting the Chinese Communist Party, please visit the website http://quitccp.org/cms/ for more information

TPI TIBET

The Tibet Post

31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

5

China Detains Two in Tibet for Tibet's Nomadic lifestyle Under Threat, Family Members’ Actions China Claims Comfortable

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

From left to Right: Tsering Kyipo, Jampa Ngodup and Lobsang Thupten. Photo: TPI

By Carly James and Sangay Dorjee, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: A Tibetan monk from the south of India, who wishes to remain anonymous, has informed TPI that arrest warrants have been issued for three young men in Zakhog, in Derge County of Kham, eastern Tibet, for allegedly putting up posters with the messages "We want freedom" and "invite the Dalai Lama to Tibet" written on them.

The three men, Tsering Kyipo, 25, Jampa Ngodup, 33, and Lobsang Thupten, 30; each wrote their names on the posters and knowing they would face persecution, subsequently fled into hiding. Arrest warrants for their capture have been issued and Chinese authorities have arrested and detained two family members, Tsering's father Sangpa and Jampa's brother Mochak, neither of whom have any apparent connection to the incident.

Tsering, Jampa and Lobsang were said to have also been participants in the 2008 mass demonstration that swept Tibet calling for freedom of religion and speech in the region, which has been militarily occupied by China since 1949.

The families of each of the three men were also fined the sum of 20,000 yuan each.Only last week, Tibetan political prisoner Boluk passed away in a Lhasa

hospital after his wounds from Chinese torture became too great. He had been arrested in 2009 after refusing to cooperate with a government mandate, which ordered heads of villages to hunt down monks fleeing a Chinese 'reeducation' programme being enforced in Kyabchen Monastery of Jomda County in Kham, Tibet.

As a part of the re-education programme in monasteries, every monk and nun is made to give their signature in opposition to the Dalai Lama, as an act of renunciation, and those who refuse face harsh penalties. A month after the system began to be enforced in Kyabchen Monastery, however, officials found it to be empty, as its occupants had all escaped. This prompted security forces to launch a search, and when community leaders and village heads refused to comply a crackdown ensued.

Buluk was detained in Powo Tramo Prison, where even close family members were barred from visiting him.

Due to torture his health deteriorated and he became very weak, eventually passing away on March 25 at around 12pm. A candlelight vigil was held for him in the Tibetan exile community of Dharamshala on Friday night.

Students in Tibet Hold Solidarity Hunger Strike for the Martyred Monk crackdown on Tibetan peaceful protesters in Tibet.

Following the self immolation protest in Ngaba on March 16, students at the prefecture upper middle school from March 17 staged a hunger strike to show their respect and solidarity with Phuntsok, but as China has imposed tight security measures across Tibet recently and the armed Chinese military forces have confiscated mobiles phones of many students and teachers, because there was a ban imposed by Chinese on all Tibetan movement in and out of the school, due to heavy restrictions imposed by the so called security forces.

According to Lobsang Yeshe and Kanyag Tsering who live in exile said that the students were unable to communicate with their families, and

there is very limited information available. According to some Tibet sources, the protest was still underway till March 23, but the situation is not well known even in Barkham city, where the school is located.

On March 22, Phuntsok's younger brother Lobsang Kelsang, also a 19 year old monk from Kirti monastery, his maternal uncle Lobsang Tsondue, and Samdup another monk of Kirti monastery from their native division 2 of Me'uruma township were arrested and are being detained on suspicion of involvement in Phuntsok's protest against Chinese rule.

Samdup was arrested in March 2008 on suspicion of involvement in the 3.16 protest, and detained for several months. Then on September 24 2008, he was among the seriously wounded

Dharamshala: - A Chinese official in Amdho region of Tibet has claimed on Saturday (27 March) that China plans to build 25,000 settlements for herding families this year as the government continues to work to improve the life of the herding community.

"The provincial government would spend nearly 6 billion yuan (about 923 million U.S. dollars) in five years to settle 134,000 herding families, mostly Tibetans, in safe and comfortable homes," claimed Deng Bentai, Vice Governor of so called Qinghai Province.

More than 46,000 settlements have been built since the project started in 2009, with the purpose of helping nomadic people in the province settle down in permanent homes, Deng said.

Four thousand others are currently under construction.

After more than 50 years of Chinese occupation over Tibet, thousands of Tibetan herding families still have limited income and live in poor conditions in the Himalayan region of Amdho, eastern Tibet.

The huge forceful resettlement of

Tibetan sheep being milked near Mamtso at about 5000 m in central Tibet. Sheep lamb in February and March and, beginning in June, after the lambs are weaned, sheep are milked twice a day. Photo: TPI

nomads still ongoing in Tibet, this policy is having a disastrous impact on Tibetan herders' ability to maintain their traditional livelihoods and on a distinctive form of Tibetan cultural identity. The policy also threatens potentially ruinous consequences for the Tibetan Plateau, and consequently for billions of people living in the continent of Asia.

Tibet is the sources of Asia's major rivers, and the regime is aggressively developing mining and other extractive industries in order to profit off Tibet's mineral wealth with little to no benefits going to the Tibetan people. Many scientists state that if these open mining continues in the current vein, disastrous effects could be felt across region, including China itself.

A Tibetan Teenager and Several Others Arrested, Fear of Torture

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: - A 16-year-old Tibetan boy was arrested Tuesday at midnight and there is evident fear of many more being detained or arrested. The arrest comes after a Tibetan monk died of selfimmolation in Amdho Ngaba region to protest against Chinese communist rule over Tibet.

"Losang Jamyang, S/O Dronkar was arrested between 12 and 1 am on the night of March 22. He is from upper Tawa in Ngaba county, eastern Tibet.

The armed police and soldiers who came to arrest him broke down the street door of his house, and two friends who were with him, Wangchuk and Sonam, were also detaine,' Losang Yeshe and Kanyag Tsering from exile Kirti monastery based in Dharamshala told The Tibet Post International.

Many other residents of the two Dewa (pastoral communities) of upper Tawa were also arrested on the nights of March 21 and March 22, but we have not been able to establish the details so far. All of them were arrested between midnight and 2 am on those nights, and the security personnel broke down their doors and treated the

Massive deployment of Chinese troops in Ngaba area of Amdo, Eastern Tibet, including artillery and huge numbers of troops practicing suppressing mock Tibetan demonstrations on August 10th 2011. Photo: TPI

detainees with a severe degree of contempt and malice.

Prior to this, on March 20, unable to gather or celebrate in public, it is reported that the people of Amdo Ngaba had cleaned their houses and arranged shrine offerings of water bowls and butter lamps, making heartfelt prayers for the election of a

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ when soldiers severely beat up a group of monks of Kirti monastery.

These days, the armed police and military forces in the region, as as at Kirti monastery, are making arrests at night time in consequence of the recent protests, and likewise they patrol Kirti monastery at night and assault any monks they come across.

On March 24 the local authorities called public meetings in upper Tawa

and Gapma villages in Ngaba county, and told the common people that they had to go for security duty at Kirti monastery. Anyone failing to do so would be fined 30 yuan per day of nonattendance.

The news that has emerged recently from Ngaba is all coming from the villages and monasteries in proximity to the county town, and it is hard to get information from further afield.

new prime minister and parliament (in exile) of real benefit to the nation. That night around 3 am a few firecrackers were set off in Ngaba county. Security forces made some arrests, but the details of this are not known, and since then arrests have been continuing and the situation has worsened day by day.

Meanwhile the so-called Patriotic Religion reeducation campaign has been going on at Kirti monastery in Tibet. On March 23, monks were issued with copies of three handbooks on the constitution of the PRC, on the law concerning (respect for) the PRC flag and PRC regulations on the mediation of public disputes, and told to improve their awareness of the law and regulations.

Torture is an everyday reality in Tibet, torture is used by China as a tool against Tibetan people particularly dissent, monks and scholars, creating a climate of fear.

6

31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

TPI TIBET IN EXILE

Tibetans-in-Exile Hold Democratic Election, Huge Voter Turnout

The Tibet Post

US Based Vietnamese & Tibetans Join Fundraise Forces

By Cornelius Lundsgaard, The Tibet Post

Tibetans in exile enjoying the democratic rights, Dharamshala, India on 20 March 2011.

Photo: TPI

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: - Thousands of Tibetans across the world today voted to elect the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, an exercise in democracy. The outdoor courtyard of the Main Temple in Dharamshala was bustling on Sunday as what may have been thousands of Tibetans queued to cast their votes for the election of the next Tibetan Prime Minister-in-Exile, the Kalon Tripa.

Monks, nuns and lay-persons from the young to the elderly flocked to the Temple to fill out the ballot paper selecting their choice out of the three final candidates: Lobsang Sangay, Tenzin Tethong and Tashi Wangdi. As local and foreign members of the press encircled ballot boxes, smiling Tibetans proudly slotted in their votes while small monks too young to participate looked on from the upper floor of the Temple.

Elections will also be held in other cities with large Tibetan populations such as Brussels, Belgium and Kathmandu, Nepal, though recent incidents of Nepalese police inteference in has sparked fears for the democratic process and safety of those who go to the polls.

The situation in Nepal has been worsening and the Nepalese government has been buckling under pressure from China to crackdown on Tibetan activities.

This year's election has received unprecedented attention from the media and is expected to draw a record turnout. It takes place only weeks after His Holiness the Dalai Lama announced his intention to devolve his political authority, effectively ending his role in the political activity of Tibet and the Tibetan people though still vowing to contribute to the cause and remain as the Tibetans' Spiritual leader.

"As many as 83,399 exiled Tibetans settled in India, Nepal, Bhutan, the United States, European countries, Australia, Japan, Russia and other countries were eligible to exercise their franchise to elect the new Prime minister and new 43 members of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile," Jamphel Choesang, chief election commissioner, said.

At the main Tibetan temple polling station, the four ballot boxes were completely full byh 1.00 pm and later the organizers had to arrange for another 2 boxes for the surprisingly huge voter turnout.

China Arrests Four Tibetans ........ his brother. He was beaten so bad that his bones were seen protruding through the skin of his arm. He was then taken away by a police vehicle, but after a few kilometers they received a call informing them of their mistake. They then quickly returned to the teashop where they arrested Tsering Dhondup. At the time of writing he is still behind bars in the Barkham County detention centre.

During the interview, Gendun Tsering went on to talk about the owner and two staff members at the Pandita Printing Press (PPP) in Chendu township, who were arrested last year following a series of publications.

Owner Yangchen Kyi, 30, and editor Namsay were both arrested while at work at the PPP. Yangchen Kyi was released from a detention centre in Nagchu County after around two weeks, explained Gendun, but she has not been allowed to reopen her printing press business. According to Gendun, Namsay, who is from Lupdhang, was arrested because of what the Chinese authorities viewed as anti-government postings on his blog as well as for being the assistant editor of the Tibetan magazine, Sonmig. The third person arrested from the PPP was 17 year old typist

On the issue of freedom of expression on the Internet in Tibet Gendun Tsering said: "Actually, we are free to write about anything except for issues of national or political character. When it comes to those issues we are not able to write the truth in any form be it newspapers, blogs or elsewhere. We have no freedom in that regard." He went on to say that: "In Tibet we have many problems, but I think only about 30% of those problems gets across the border to reach the international news."

When asked about his situation of living in exile, Gendun explained that while he had many political and financial problems in Tibet since the authorities started looking for him, and while he still faces many challenges here in India, he is confident that he will surmount these problems, "I am not the only one with these problems".

Back in 2009 Gendun Tsering himself spent 2 months and 27 days in prison in the province of Kham. During that time he came up with many ideas for writing and since then he has kept a daily journal. He hopes that he will be able to publish a book based on his journal entries and on his experiences during the time spent in prison. nternet Cencorship in Tibet.

New YorK: - On the 12th of March a rather unusual event took place at the Vietnamese restaurant Ta in San Jose, California. A member of the Vietnamese community, Mrs Bickieu Pham, with support from the Office of Tibet NY, organized a Vietnamese-Tibetan dinner and concert named Friendship In Exile to help raising funds among Vietnamese supporters for the Tibetan Association of Northern California's new community center as well as for other Tibetan communities in the US. Close to 300 people came for this event, counting chiefly Vietnamese but also some Tibetan guests.

According to a report of Tibetan government media "Tibet Net," among theVietnamese performers were popular singer and actress Ms. Than Lan and singer Anh Tuan, as well as a local Vietnamese youth group showing traditional Vietnamese dances. The Tibetan part of the entertainment included Chaksampa, a traditional Tibetan music band specializing in Nangma-Toeshay, and a group of traditional Tibetan dance performers from the weekend school of the TANC. Also invited were monks from the Gyuto Monastery, who blessed the event and

Tibetan students keeping their culture and traditional way of life, Carlifornia, US. Photo: File

chanted an offering prayer before the dinner.

Thanking the organisers and guests for their support in his speach, representative Mr Lobsang Nyandak furthermore underlined the two communities' shared political background of Communist persecution and expressed his wish for friendship and solidarity among their people.

Half of the $20,963 raised at the event will be donated to the Tibetan

Community of Northern California while the rest will be shared between the Tibetan Communities of New York and New Jersey.

President of TANC , Mr Kaydor Aukatsang, said, "This event was the first community cultural event that brought together Tibetans and Vietnamese Americans who share growing cultural ties. We look forward to a good relationship with the Vietnamese community in future."

Tibetan MPs Attend Intl. Conference on Buddhism

By Cornelius Lundsgaard, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: - Two members of the Tibetan Parliament in exile were recently invited to join a two-day international conference on the "Relevance of Buddhism in Present Era" held in Amravati on 11 and 12 March. Hosted by an Amravati-based UCG-affiliated Budhist Studies Center, the conference concentrated on eradicating hatred and greed by learning about the Buddhist path of selflessness, compassion and dedication to the well-being and happiness of others.

Organisers stated that "Buddhism does not attach much importance to how many people go to the monasteries, or

Geshey Thupten Phelgyel (2nd right) during the international conference on the relevance of Buddhism in present era in Amravati, India. Photo: Tibet Net

how many Buddhist books published and read or how many ceremonies performed etc. In Buddhism, service to the people of their overall development

and making them enlightened is important".

Tibetan MP Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok and member of the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Parliament Geshey Thupten Phelgyel participated in the conference, speaking of the relation between Buddhism and issues like world peace, science, ecology and democratic values.

Women empowerment and the Buddhist ways of combatting mateialism were also topics of the MPs speach, while on the opening day Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok chaired a session on global peace and Buddhism.

During the conference an array of researchers and academics also presented their papers.

Tibetans & Japanese Hold Prayers for Victims of Tsunami Japanese monks.

Mr. Lhakpa Tshoko, Representative of Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for Japan & East Asia welcomed the gathering and explained that this prayer gathering to recite Heart Sutra, Sherab nyingpo has been inspired by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who initiated one hundred thousand recitation of the sutra in India for the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami disaster. Mr. Lhakpa also announced that DVD containing the explanation of Heart Sutra by His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be distributed to the Japanese temple in order to have greater understanding of the sutra and to encourage its recitations.

Rev. Okamoto, Chief Abbot of the Gokokuji Temple thanked the organizers for this initiative to organize

the prayers for the victims of the natural calamities and for the early restoration of normal life. "We are very grateful and obliged that His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India has conducted prayer gathering in Dharamsala for the victims." He said.

Dr. Barry Kerzin, an American Buddhist monk scholar gave a brief and simple explanation of Heart Sutra to the audience. "Hangyashingyo, [Heart Sutra in Japanese] is the deepest expression of love and compassion in Buddhist teaching. Lets recite this sutra with love and compassion for all those who suffered and are suffering in affected area." He said. Dr. Barry explained about the origin and deeper meaning of the sutra to the audience.

Tibetan monks of Gomang monastery at Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Association in Hiroshima led the

prayers in Tibetan wherein Tibetan version of Heart sutra was ricited several times. It was followed by Heart sutra recitations by Japanese monks and general public. During the recitation the participants offered incenses at the alter in turn. Around 150 Japanese and Tibetan monks, and general public gathered to participate in the prayer.

Rev. Hayashi, Chief Representative of Association of Buddhist monks thanked the Tibetans and the participants for their sincere initiative to pray for the people affected by the disaster and hoped that the prayers would help alleviate the sufferings of the people. Mr. Lhakpa thanked the participants at the conclusion and informed that 49th day prayer gathering will also be done at the Temple.

TPI INTERNATIONAL

The Tibet Post

Chinese Zhu Rui Writes of 'Happy Times in Old Lhasa' Capital of Tibet

Kalon Kesang Yangkyi Takla, minister of Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR), (R) Ms. Zhu Rui, writer of the book, (C) and Mr. Sangay Kep of the China Desk DIIR. Photo: TPI

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: Chinese author Zhu Rui has this morning (March 25) released her new book, entitled 'Happy Times in Old Lhasa', dedicated to 'His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the indomitable spirit of the Tibetan people'.

The book, which is written in Chinese and based on the lives and stories of real people as told through interviews with individuals from different sections of the old Tibetan society. The book's historical record spans a century beginning in the 1860s, and its description of the social conditions in Old Tibet are narrated through the eyes of an aristocratic Tibetan lady, relatives of whom are friends of Ms. Zhu and who helped her uncover the tale.

In a press conference held at the Department of Information and International Relations in Dharamshala

on the morning of the book's release, Ms. Zhu explained its inspiration by saying that "during my time in Lhasa I had to suffer and see all of that traditional culture destroyed", and that her heart often ached when she remembered how much freedom the Tibetan people had enjoyed before Chinese occupation.

She added that some of the information she had gathered came from an interview with a senior government official, who spoke of how Tibet had been 'a peaceful country, a free country', prior to the invasion of 1949, but who later pleaded with her not to publish comments from his interview. Zhu said that despite his pleading she felt it was necessary to share the story with the world, and so she went ahead with the book's publication.

When questioned about the aristocratic woman who features in her book and the fate of her family, Zhu told the conference that many had been arrested, including her husband, and the big mansion-like house they had lived in was now in a serious state of disrepair that was tragic to witness.

It took Ms. Zhu 10 years of tireless work and research to compile the contents of the book, which contains a foreword by well-known Beijing-based Tibetan writer and poet Tsering Woeser. Ms. Zhu also received a special audience Friday with His Tibetan spiritual leader Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Born in northeastern China, Ms. Zhu lived in Tibet for many years. She has published several novels, poems, essays, and a number of short stories, and most of her work is related to Tibet.

Following the March 2008 region-wide uprising all across Tibet, Zhu Rui published many articles online, including 'Why Tibetans Want to Protest', 'The Army, Machine Guns, and Bullets, Not Control the Hearts of Tibetans', 'Write to Some Chinese', 'Invite The Dalai Lama', 'Extreme Nationalist Sentiment on both Chinese and Tibetan Communities Are Disadvantaged', 'A Letter to His Holiness the Dalai Lama', 'Hope the One in Power Doesn't Miss This Opportunity', 'Hope of Tibet', 'Exclusive Interview with Arjia Rinpoche', 'Exclusive Interview with the 17th Karmapa Rinpoche', 'Exclusive Interview with Mr. Thupten Lungrig, the Minister of the Department of Education', 'In the End, Han is Han' and several others. She currently lives in Canada.

China's Wuhan Sees Big Demolitions Protests

Police walk around people after social networks called to join a "Jasmine Revolution" protest in front of the Peace Cinema in downtown Shanghai February 20, 2011.

Photo: vancouversun.com

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: Around 300 civilians have gathered on March 15 outside the Intermediate Court of Wuhan, in China's Hubei Province, to protest a lawsuit filed against a physically disabled man alleged to have killed one of five assailants who tried to forcibly evict his mother Zhou Houzhen from her apartment on August 1, 2010.

The man, identified as wheelchairbound Zou Bin, is severely handicapped and had to use body language to communicate throughout the hearing, having lost his ability to talk to illness. It was alleged that Zou has been detained by authorities for the past 7 months, for defending his mother against a group of men who broke into her apartment building, and who after

being refused entry to the apartment, waited for her outside and savagely beat her. Zou is accused of using a kitchen knife to defend his mother, killing one attacker and injuring another in the fray.

On the same day as the case against Mr. Zou, nearly a thousand angry residents rallied to protest a mass forced eviction in Wuhan's Qiaoku district, carrying banners reading 'Return My Home to me' and 'Stop Violating our Residency Rights', as well as propane tanks to ward off police forces, who were later accused by government agents of not doing enough to 'protect the interests of the party'.

According to a report from The Epoch Times, the evictions were the result of Wuhan City Party Committee Secretary Ruan Chengfa handing over a

development project to the relatives of an old friend who had helped him obtain his position as Secretary, with residents being evicted without official documentation.

The demonstrations highlight the sensitivity of local populations toward forced evictions across China by the government, with the charges against Zou in particular appearing to have struck a raw nerve among a people who have simply had enough of being pushed around by a corrupt and authoritarian system, and of having their homes and livelihoods demolished while they stand by powerless to act.

The Chinese Communist government has increasingly aggravated the population and stirred resentment with rampant corruption, forced evictions, and demolitions for which it offers inadequate compensation and options for resettlement in urban centres where rural-dwellers have difficulties finding work. Recently a young man created a 'Blood Map' using Google Maps pinpointing locations of thousands of incidences of unrest and demonstrations across the country.

To avoid associating the case against Zou Bin with such forced evictions and demolitions, the Wuhan Procuratorate allegedly used the euphemisms 'relocating' and 'renting'.

No verdict was reached on the 15th March in regards to Mr. Zou, and his lawyer, Mr. Liu, claimed that there was not enough evidence against him for prosecutors to justify a conviction.

31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

7

UNHRC Urged to Listen to the Voice of Oppressed People of Tibet

Lhaden. File Photo: TCHRD

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: - A Tibetan writeractivist monk, Lhaden appeals to the UN Human Rights Council to seriously listen to voices of the oppressed people instead of being a platform for trumpeting by the seat holders or a platform for discussions amongst the free people only. He wrote poetically "while putting on mortgage my life, I offer this book as a voice of the oppressed and as an appeal" for the UNHRC to take actions in Tibet.

According to a report released on Thursday (25 March) by the Dharamshala based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democaracy, Lhaden has released his book in Tibetan language titled Tse Sok Le Trun Pe Kecha (rough translation: Words Uttered With Life On Risk) this month timed at the third anniversary of 2008 Mass Uprising in Tibet and the ongoing 16th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lhaden has meticulously written the book for over three years on his observations and arguments regarding causes and consequences of the mass uprising by Tibetans in 2008. The 255 pages book with five chapters also covers commentaries on the Jyekundo (Ch: Yushu) earthquake, leaders in Tibet and religion etc. The first chapter of the book exclusively covers 2008 mass uprising with a timeline of protest events, causes, scope, clamp down, analysis by Chinese scholars, police brutality and government propaganda against His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Lhaden was born in 1980 at Dida Village, Pema County, Golog "Tibetan

Autonomous Prefecture", Qinghai.

Originally named as Lhaden (popularly called Di Lhaden), he was also known by his ordained name Thubten Lobsang Lhundup. At eleven years old he was admitted to his local monastery and four years later joined Serthar Buddhist Institute. When he became 28 years old, he went to Lhasa to study at Drepung and Sera Monasteries, however, he had to return to his native place shortly.

Lhaden takes a keen interest in writing and has been doing active writing since he was 22 and won many accolades.

Since 2008, he has been visiting various places in Tibet to experience and record observations for his book Tse Sok Le Trun Pe Kecha.

Since 2008, about 70 Tibetan writers, bloggers and cultural figures have been harassed, beaten, detained and arrested over the content of their work by the Chinese authorities in Tibet. There has been an escalating attack on freedom of expression and information in Tibet since the mass uprising. State authorities are using the recent political unrest in Tibet as justification to further suffocate Tibetans' free speech rights.

The authorities routinely exploit vague domestic legal provisions to criminalize the peaceful expression of Tibetan intellectuals regarded as "politically dangerous".

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) appeals to members of the UNHRC to take actions against the gross human rights violations taking place in Tibet and request the UN human rights mandates to take preemptive measures to protect Lhaden.

UFO Photographed in Eastern Tibet

UFO flying in eastern Tibet according eye witness. Photo: All News Web

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: The photograph above (see a zoomed in image of the UFO below) comes from the Karze, eastern region of Tibet. A group of friends were on their way to a nearby airport when the car they were travelling started having engine problems.

According to "All News Web," the group got out to move the car off the

road when one of the group spotted a UFO hovering overhead and managed to take a photo of it.

This UFO event occurred on February 20 of this year. The UFO seen in the photo is a classic metallic flying saucer.

The witnesses have submitted the photo to researchers for analysis.

Tibet has had an association with UFOs that might well go back thousands of years, "All News Web," reported. It has long been rumored that a secret UFO base exists in the area. It is also believed that a giant UFO is buried somewhere under mountains in the region. In the 10th century AD, Tibetan monks adorned pages of sacred Buddhist manuscripts with depictions of metallic flying saucers they had seen in the skies above the area.

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31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

China Bans Religious Ceremonies During Tibetan Election

TPI TIBET

The Tibet Post

New Internet Censorship: Tibet Culture website Shutdown

By Cornelius Lundsgaard, The Tibet Post

August 1st, PLA founding day, forces stationed in Ngaba go to Miruma village, eastern Tibet.

Photo: TPI

By The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: - A large number of armed troops were sent into Ngaba county, eastern Tibet and a more strict clampdown than before was imposed during the exile Tibetan election and after recent protest in the region, according to a report received by The Tibet Post International. In particular on March 20, in an unusual intensification of the clampdown, at monasteries and communities all across the county.

Losang Yeshe and Kanyag Tsering from Kirti monastery in exile, Dharamshala, Monastery officials and community heads were told to ensure that no firecrackers were burst, no incense offerings made, no Lungta (wind-horse) thrown, and so on.

Among Tibetans it was said that this was because exile Tibetans were holding elections for a new Kalon Tripa that day, and it was to prevent Tibetans in occupied Tibet from celebrating the occasion.

On that day, officials from Sichuan province and Ngaba prefecture arrived at Kirti monastery in Ngaba, and announced that any monk who needed to leave the monastery must first take a letter of guarantee from his class tutor, one from the relevant disciplinarian, and one from the govt officials now stationed at the monastery. Monks could not leave the monastery without these permissions.

On March 21, the newly arrived officials announced that they would be starting a new session of reeducation under the name of the ‘Patriotic Religion' campaign. At 8 am local time, the officials came to start this session, but there were no monks in attendance, so they harried the monastery officials to rectify this. The monastery officials went to individual monks' rooms asking them to assemble in the courtyard of the main assembly hall, and more than 200 of them obeyed.

The officials started their speeches about 10 am, while another group of officials went into many of the monks' rooms to order them to attend. On the first day, the meeting was led by the head of Ngaba prefecture religious affairs department. He strongly criticised the administration and ordinary monks of Kirti monastery, saying they had failed to abide by the law of the nation, the needs of local security, the unity of nationalities, social stability and so on, enumerating many demonstrations that had taken place at various times, and in particular,

said that those who had snatched the heroic Puntsok out of the hands of the police were guilty of murder.

He also said that there was a group/ cell of monks dedicated to the practice of self-immolation with n the monastery, and that they (the govt) would have to join with the monastery authorities to stamp it out.

Among the officials conducting the reeducation there is one group from Sichuan province state law office, one group from Ngaba prefecture including from the United Front department, another group from Ngaba prefecture including the religious affairs dept, and a work team from Ngaba county including the county chief.

The schedule for the reeducation sessions is from 8 am to 12 pm, and from 2 pm to 6 pm. However, as so few monks turned up on the first day, they were all told to stay in their rooms on the morning of the 22nd, whil officials came round all the dormitories registering the number of resident monks, their names and ages. Only in the afternoon did the assembly resume in the main courtyard.

Dharamshala: - As recently as March 16, 2011, another instance of what appears to be Chinese media censorship took place as the popular Chineselanguage Tibetan website TibetCul.com suddenly became inaccessible and still remains so. This move happened after the affiliated website MyBudala.com also was shut down only few days before the 52nd Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day on March 10.

When the politically sensitive first anniversary of March 10 2008 was coming up two years ago, TibetCul went offline saying that the website was closed due to maintenance. The actual necessity of that stands unconfirmed in the light of later attempts by TibetCul to control the contents on the site, i.e. when, after the earthquake in Yushu, eastern Tibet, in May 2010, blog postings reflected discontent with China's relief effort, spurring a notice on the website by the administrators stressing how TibetCul was intended as a cultural bridge and further stating that: "Your statements reflect your attitude towards TibetCul. If you want our website to stir up dust, if you want it to attract the attention of the authorities and be closed down, then we shall block and close down your IP address and blog immediately."

Despite this clear-cut attitude of the site's non-provocative nature and its attempts to promote cultural communication between Tibetans and Han Chinese and other ethnicities the staff at TibetCul are still unable to post on their own website. However, a post from the administrators of TibetCul was to be found on the Sina MicroBlog just after the shutdown: "On March 16 at 6pm, it was suddenly not possible to visit TibetCul's page, the website staff and server operators just found out that higher authorities ordered to close the

Screenshot of Tibet culture website before shutdown by Chinese authorities. Photo: File

site down, when asking for the specific reason to the authorities, the staff on duty said he had no idea why!". At the time of writing, this post has also been removed.

The prospects of TibetCul to reappear on the Internet unfortunately do not

A Monk Self-Immolation Sparks Protest in Tibet, Hundreds Arrested

Mr. Tibet and Tibet Idol 2011 Nominations Now Open Holiness the Dalai Lama, and is being organised by Dr. Mahesh Yadav 'Aman Gandhi', an activist for Tibet for the past 15 years, with Thinley Jampa and the 2009 recipient of the Miss Tibet crown, Tenzin Choezom, as the event's coordinators.

Nominees for 'Mr. Tibet' are required to meet a height requirement of 5"8 f (1.72m) and be between 18 and 30 years old. As for his character, Miss Choezom has said the future Mr. Tibet must have a good heart and be ready to help spread awareness of the situation in Tibet to Tibetan youth, and have a good knowledge of cultural dance and traditional music.

Nominees for 'Tibet Idol' (also open to women) must be between 18-35 years old, and all competitors in both competitions must be in possession of a Green Book identifying them as Tibetan. She added that the organisation is expecting a large turnout and that she hopes "many young boys will be excited to participate" in Mr. Tibet and spread

awareness of harassment and human rights violations within the region.

The winners of both titles will receive a gold medal, cash prize and certificate, and be given "the chance to become something unique and represent their own country", gaining advantages as role models whose job will be to highlight the situation in Tibet and Tibetan culture to the younger generation of Tibetans.

Dr. Manesh Yadav has said that the inspiration for 'Mr. Tibet' came from Lobsang Wangyal's 'Miss Tibet' and that he would like to thank Lobsang and invite him to join the judges' panel. Miss Choezom added that World Tibet Congress is currently seeking sponsorship and hoping to expand its number of members.

Nominations can be submitted to: amangandhi.film.productions@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and more information can be sought on the following numbers: 09755990804 / 08894063131.

seem promising, although other Tibetan websites known to be taken offline in the month of March sometimes have come back to life. If this isn't the case with TibetCul it will come to stand as another sad indication of the critically diminishing Tibetan cyberspace.

Phuntsok, a 20 year old monk of Kirti monastery who died after he set himself ablaze on Wednesday, 19th March 2011 Photo: TPI

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: - A Buddhist monk died after setting himself on fire at a market near Kirti monastery in Amdho Ngaba county, eastern region of Tibet, a Tibetan who live in exile said on Wednesday, in what could be the latest example of a protest to against Chinese rule in the region following the 52nd anniversary of Tibetan national uprising day.

According to the source, the incident of self-immolation of a Buddhist monk sparked a wave of latest protest in the region which later crack-down by the Chinese military forces and police.

Phuntsok, 21, of Kirti monastery carried out protest at 4PM before immolating himself, died after monks and local public took him to the monastery, Kanyak Tsering told The

Tibet Post International.

"Over 1000 Tibetans including monks immediately gathered to protest against the Chinese rule and the protest walked nearly a mile from the market where self-immolation happened, however, heavy Chinese military forces and police immediately arrived at the protest zone, brutally beaten in the crackdown and dispersed the demonstration," he added.

Tsering said that all of the protesters were arrested, and several of them sustained injuries from electric baton and iron rods used by the armed Chinese military forces.and police after the crowds chanting various slogans against the communist rule.

"A crowd of Tibetans later grew in numbers and took Phuntsok to his monastery and managed to protect when the police were trying to take him away. The monks from the monastery made it clear that they will not let the Chinese police take away Phuntsok's body until they all die," he further said.

In the meantime the situation has once again become tense as a large amount armed military forces surrounded the Tibetan monastery, beatings and arbitrary arrests continue elsewhere.

The presence of military troops were increased recently in major towns and cities in Tibet particularly in in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and its surrounding areas, people in Tibet fear arrest and imprisonment for speaking about their basic human rights.

TPI CHINA

The Tibet Post

China Claims Over 14,000 Websites, 600 TV Stations Are Illegal

31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

China Violently Occupy Tibet, US has Responsibility to Stand-up

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

censorship of the world. Photo: TPI

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: Authorities in Anhui province in Eastern China have pledged to continue cracking down on the so called 'illegal television stations' who have been "airing violent programmes and pornography", violating China's strict broadcasting regulations which prohibit all forms of these two types of content.

An online posting on bbc.hefei.cc revealed that around 600 television stations have been operating illegally in the north of the province, a fact which has been confirmed by Yang Jian, the deputy head of the social management office of Anhui Provincial Bureau of Radio, Film and Television.

Yang stressed that "We will spare no efforts to investigate and shut down illegal television stations".

Authorities have only managed to close down 285 such stations since 2006, hindered by the difficulty of locating and tracking transmitters which are often hidden in the homes

of farmers and are easily moved to other hiding places whenever investigations take place, or quickly reinstated after a crackdown.

The news coincides with the announcement of a nationwide campaign against 'illegal online mapping services' across China, in reaction to major violations such as revealing confidential information or incorrectly depicting the country's borders, particularly in politically sensitive disputed territory such as islands and coastal areas.

Over 1,000 such violations have been recorded since 2008, and according to the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping over 14,000 websites currently provide mapping services, though it was unclear how many of these were deemed by the Bureau to be 'illegal'. Under the recent licensing system for mapping services introduced last May, only 105 websites across China have been granted

Dharamshala: Rep. Tammy Baldwin, member of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress, said this on 16 March while submitting to the Congress His Holiness the Dalai Lama's statement on the 52nd anniversary of the national uprising against the repression on Tibet by the People's Republic of China.

"Mr. Speaker, March 10 marked the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against the People's Republic of China, during which His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled to exile. On that day, there was a small commemoration on Library Mall in Madison with Wisconsin's Tibetan-American community, which my staff was honoured to attend," Baldin said on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

"While the commemoration serves as a painful but important reminder of China's prolonged efforts to outlaw dissent, restrict free expression, and violently occupy Tibet, it also serves as a symbol of our sustained vigilance, continued determination, and enduring hope that Tibetans everywhere will

licences, with the rest required to attain one by the end of this month. The Bureau has urged harsh punishment for those caught publishing unapproved or erronous material.

According to Xinhua, Chinese law dictates that only the county government or higher has the right to set up radio and T.V. stations, and authorities have said they will continue undercover investigations to stamp out unapproved content.

Gelek Namgyal, the Tibetan coordinator presenting a gift to the king of tripura.

Photo: TPI

soon be free to live in peace with their land and culture intact," she said.

"On this anniversary, I offer support and conviction to the thousands of Tibetans living in exile and the thousands more who have chosen to stand beside them in the struggle. for freedom. I support the Middle-Way Approach proposed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to honor the dignity of both Tibetan and Chinese people and

Tibetans and Japanese Pray for Earthquake and Tsunami Victims

By YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post

Tokyo: Tibetan community in Japan organized a prayer gathering at Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo in which some 60 people participated despite the radiation fear lurking in the city.

The prayer gathering was in tandem with the one held in Dharamsala and other monasteries in India for earthquake victims in Japan.

Mr. Tsewang Gyalpo Arya of Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that the prayer gathering is for the soul of all those who lost their lives in the disaster, and to pray for those who are still suffering in the region, and for the quick recovery of the situation. "Tibetan people would like to express our sympathy and

solidarity with the Japanese people at this difficult period. Japan has been a generous nation in the hour of natural disaster, its time the world repay the debt." He said.

Mr. Lobsang, Chairman of Tibetan community in Japan thanked the participants and led the prayers session along with Ven. Kobayashi.

The prayer was done for four hours.

Heart Sutra, *Sherab nyinpo* was recited many times both in Tibetan and Japanese. Gokokuji Temple has arranged the Tibetan and Japanese text of the prayers.

Japanese participants thanked the organizers and individual Tibetans for organizing this prayer gathering. A lady said in tears that she was grateful that His Holiness has performed prayers in Dharamsala for the people who died and are suffering in disaster hit area.

An earthquake of 9.0 magnitude and tsunami attacked North eastern Japan on March 11, in which more than hundred thousand died or are missing, loss of property in said to be great. At the moment the government is trying its best to control the nuclear plants in Fukushima from exploding.

to promote a respectful solution. I strongly believe that the United States has a responsibility to stand up for human rights and the rule of law, and I support efforts to address the plight of Tibetans."

A member of the US Congress has pledged her support for efforts to address the plight of the Tibetan people, saying the United States has an obligation to stand up for human rights and the rule of law.

Baldwin commended His Holiness the Dalai Lama's decision to devolve his political authority to the elected leadership. "At a time when despots around the world cling to power as their people yearn for democracy, the Dalai Lama's willful ceding of power is a tribute to his vision to fulfill the aspirations of the Tibetan people and should inspire others around the world," she said.

China has 'Reservations' about UN Military Action in Libya

Gaddafi of Libya & Hu Jintao, of China.

Photo: File

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Tibetans and Japanese Prayer events for Earthquake and Tsunami Victims organised by Tibet House Japan. Photo: TPI

9

Dharamshala: China has admitted to having strong reservations regarding a United Nations military intervention in Libya, where authoritarian leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi has been leading a deadly military offensive against his own people following a widespread uprising calling for democracy.

The United Nations Security Council adopted a new resolution on Friday morning following a vote, allowing "all necessary measures" to protect civilians, including air and ground strikes but stopping short of a military invasion.

Hours after the resolution backed a "nofly zone" over Libya to protect civilians against government armed forces, Libya's Foreign Minister announced that the government had declared an immediate ceasefire between rebels and forces still loyal to Gaddafi.

China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Li Baodong, confessed the Communist nation, which has been ruled for the past 61 years by the same regime, was having "serious difficulties" subscribing to the new UN resolution though it would agree to support it in principal.

The Chinese diplomat stated that China "Is always opposed to the use of force in international relations" , also urging the UN to respect international law and the "sovereignty, independence, unity and integrality of Libya and resolve by

peaceful means the current crisis in Libya".

The stance taken by China on the matter may have some relation to the fear held in the Chinese government that a similar uprising will occur in their own country, following weeks of demonstration attempts and a 'jasmine revolution' which were crushed by police forces.

Chinese government figures have shown that over 90,000 incidents of unrest occur in China each year, adding to the government's unease about the instability of their regime amid increasing numbers of calls for democracy.

The UN's Secretary-General Ban KiMoon has stated that "Given the critical situation on the ground, I expect immediate action on the resolution's provisions", and French government spokesman Franรงois Barrion affirmed that talks would be taking place "as early as this morning" regarding a plan of action and that "Strikes will take place immediately".

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe gave his assessment of the situation, saying that "In Libya, for a number of weeks the people's will has been shot down... by Colonel Gaddafi who is attacking his own people. We cannot let these warmongers do this, we cannot abandon cilivians."

Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim has condemned the resolution, claiming it "shows an aggressive attitude on the part of the international community, which threatens the unity of Libya and its stability", while Col. Gaddafi has told a Portuguese television station "If the world is crazy, we will be crazy too."

The UN resolution has given hope to many in Libya, who were reported to be celebrating following the vote, as well as those facing oppressive and overpowering governments in countries such as Yemen and Ivory Coast, where the violence continues.

10

31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

TPI INTERNATIONAL

INPaT to Observe the Upcoming Tibetan General Election

China Under Fire from UN for Tibet Human Rights Violations

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Members of the International Network for Parliamentarians on Tibet (INPaT) attending the anniversary of the 50th Tibetan democracy day in Bylakuppe, South India on 2 September 2010. Photo: TPI

By The Tibet Post International

Amsterdam/Brussels/Zurich, Washington, DC/Toronto - The International Network of Parliamentarians for Tibet (INPaT) will deploy a team of experts to conduct a Tibetan Election Observation Mission in Europe and North America on 20 March, 2011 when Tibetans in the freeworld vote to elect the Kalon Tripa (Chairman of the Tibetan cabinet) and the 44 members of the 15th Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE). Tibetan Election Observation Mission (TEOM) Members composed of parliamentarians will observe Tibetan polling stations in Brussels, Zurich, New York and Toronto.

INPaT's Bylakuppe Statement on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Tibetan Democracy Day on 2 September, 2010, called upon the TEOM to invite international election monitoring entities to observe the 2011 parliamentary and Kalon Tripa elections.

In response, INPaT was formally invited by the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) "to initiate a process of observing the final elections on the 20th of March 2011 in different parts of the world where Tibetan exiles vote for their leaders in the Cabinet and the Parliament."

INPaT TEOM Co-Chair Mr. Matteo Mecacci following a preparatory visit to Dharamshala, India formally reached an agreement with the Tibetan Election Commission to get its full co-operation and assistance, including the guarantee

of full access to the polling stations and the counting centres.

"We believe this unique and worldwide Tibetan election process which is an unprecedented achievement for a refugee community needs to be observed and appreciated by the communities of democracies in this world," said Mr. Matteo Mecacci.

INPaT TEOM has embarked on this initiative to lend its political support to the democratic institutions initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and established by the Tibetan Refugee Community and to convey its findings and recommendations to the international community and the Tibetan people.

Given the situation that this is the first instance the Tibetan Elections will experience external observers, INPaT TEOM will not be a full fledged election monitoring exercise in accordance with the international accepted norms and technical requirements.

INPaT TEOM will be following the developments in South Asia where we plan to release the final report when the Tibetan Election Commission announces the results in April, 2011.

INPaT TEOM remains gravely concerned about the seizure of ballot boxes from the Tibetan community when the preliminary voting took place on 3 October, 201l in Kathmandu, Nepal.

According to the Tibetan Election Commission more than 80,000 Tibetans are registered to vote on 20 March.

European Parliament Commemorates Tibetan Uprising Day

The European Parliament. Photo: File

By Tibetan Official Media, Tibet Net

Brussels: Mr Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice-President of the European Parliament responsible for Democracy and Human Rights and Ms Kristiina

Ojuland, MEP are hosting a seminar on Tibet "52 Years since the Tibetan Uprising: Common Ground for Tibet and China?" in Brussels on 16 March.

The seminar focuses on the efforts made to resolve this conflict and possible roadmaps for the future, outlining the timeline and importance of this issue. It also reflects upon the recent statement

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to retire as the political leader of the Tibetans.

Mr Kelsang Gyaltsen, one of the two Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in conducting the Sino-Tibetan dialogue with the government of the People's

The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: The forced relocation of Tibetan nomads to urban centres is causing a wave of unemployment and leading to poverty for those inside Chinese-occupied Tibet, the 16th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva heard last Tuesday.

The issue was addressed by Prof.

Andrew Fisher, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague and specialist on poverty and economic development, who expressed his concern during a briefing on the 'Human Rights Situation in China: Impact of policies on Tibetan Nomads'.

Fisher explained that Tibetans are in constant competition with Han Chinese migrants who are often better educated and who benefit from discriminative government economic policy, which harms Tibetans, and the Chinese government encourages them to integrate into Tibet, a policy that is causing the dilution and degradation of Tibetan society, culture and language.

The UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the rights to food released a report in 2010 highlighting the difficulties suffered

by Tibetans as a result of Chinese policy imposed upon them. Nomadic herders in Tibet and Inner Mongolian 'Autonomous Regions' are facing 'increasing pressure on their access to land', says the report. In the words of former political prisoner Jamyang Tsetrin Gyaljong from Amdo province in Eastern Tibet, "The Chinese are forcing a change on traditional way of life of Tibetan nomads without any proper planning for both the older and younger generation."

The official state-run Chinese Xinhua news agency published a report on January 17, 2011, quoting Chineseappointed governor of Tibet Padma Choling as saying that around 300,000 families and a total of 1.3 million Tibetan nomads and farmers had been forcibly resettled in housing by Chinese authorities. By 2013, 185,500 more are expected to be put into settlements. Mr. Miloon Kothari, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, explained that the forced evictions and urban resettlement was causing marginalisation of minority groups, particularly Tibetan women and children.

The recent Council meeting mirrored a report released in 2002 for the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, which found China's economic policies for Tibet to be guided by 'systematic economic discrimination' and in violation of fundamental human rights principles.

The report, titled 'Poverty by Design: The Economics of Discrimination in Republic of China and the Acting Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Brussels will be one of the panelists of this seminar. Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen will deliver a statement on "The Course of the Negotiations between the Central Tibetan Administration and the People's Republic of China".

Vincent Metten, EU Policy Director International Campaign for Tibet, will speak on "The experience of Democracy

by Tibetans in exile".

Tibet', highlighted the way that the state-controlled Chinese agenda has been 'superimposed on the Tibetan, non-industrial agrarian economy', with exploitation taking precedence over investment in social welfare services.

The report exposed the Chinese intention to flood Tibet with its own ethnic Han population by revealing that workers were being lured to the region with subsidised salaries around 46.9% higher than anywhere on the mainland, receiving school-fee waivers not available to the local Tibetan population. The Canada-Tibet Committee, who wrote about the report's findings, said the report revealed that 'China's economic policies are reinforcing poverty, inequality and underdevelopment in Tibet'.

During last week's 8th March UN Human Rights Council discussion, Germany called on China "to guarantee

their living conditions improved.

However Yang Jianli, a former political prisoner and representative of United Nations Watch, called on the United Nations to speak out against the Chinese government's recent crackdown on 'Jasmine Revolution' demonstrations, following which many people had been arrested or disappeared, and called for the release of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

Speaking on behalf of the Society for Threatened People, Tenzin Kayta noted widespread protesting across Tibet since 2008, saying that Tibetans had suffered immensely from the Chinese security forces crackdown, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary and secret detention, forced disappearances, torture and custodial deaths, denial of legal rights and harsh sentences from partial juries. He criticised measures such as the death

Prof. Fisher (Photo: center) expressed concern for the uprooted nomadic communities from their tradition homes and moved to urban areas during a briefing on the Human Rights Situation in China: Impact of policies on Tibetan Nomads organized by two NGOs at the 16th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 8 March 2011. Photo: TPI

freedom of opinion and expression in its minority regions, in particular in Tibet and Xinjiang, together with the protection of all human rights it has committed to as an international obligation." The representative of the EU, Hungarian Ambassador Andras Dekany, also reaffirmed the EU's support for minority groups and the need for all nations including China to abide by their domestic constitutions and international standards.

Sweden was also worried by set backs in the development towards the rule of law in China, by the harassment of human rights defenders, the extensive use of the death penalty and the infringements on the freedom of expression and assembly. Criticism of China's systematic violation of freedom of opinion and expression were also made by other representatives, who pointed to the fact that China and Iran spearheaded the list of most imprisoned journalists worldwide.

Reporters Without Borders considers the two nations as the world's top violators of internet freedom, with China's Great Firewall being the world's most consummate censorship system.

In reply to Germany's accusations, and those of Sweden and the Czech Republic, Xia Jinge of China refuted claims of human rights abuses in China and in turn criticised the accusers of not being 'objective or fair', telling them to pay attention to their own human rights situations. He claimed that minorities in China had all of their political rights guaranteed and that their culture had been protected and

penalty and said that Chinese authorities did not tolerate any expression of Tibetan aspiration, and that the reality of Hu Jintao's 'harmonious society' for Tibetans was a climate of fear, intimidation, domination and suppression.

Criticism also came from International Fellowship of Reconciliation representative, Jampa Monlam, who expressed concern for the 800 people detained illegally in Tibet (though actual figures are undeniably much higher), saying that any activities by Tibetan people were considered by the Chinese authorities as illegal. Making reference to Article 25 in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China which guarantees the right to be critical of any organ of the state, he pointed out the fact that this was not possible in Tibet and that such grave problems needed to be addressed.

On all counts China refuted accusations from several countries and organisations on human rights abuses in Tibet and the Mainland, maintaining that with the premise of obeisance of State law it promoted and protected the principles of human rights and saying that 'naming and shaming' would not solve anything.

The exposure of the situation in Tibet by the Council was not well accepted by the delegation of China, who has come under fire recently for increased restrictions in the occupied region of Tibet and for clamping down on dissent and cutting back the foreign press freedoms it introduced for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

TPI

The Tibet Post

UN Human Rights Council Apprised Chinese Wrong Policy in Tibet

Archival Photo of the Human Rights Council

By Tibetan Official Media, Tibet Net

Dharamshala: The ongoing UN Human Rights Council's 16th plenary session has been apprised on the grave challenges faced by the Tibetan people inside Tibet under the wrong policies of the Chinese government.

Mr Tenzin Samphel Kayta, on behalf of the Society for Threatened Peoples, made a statement today on the deteriorating human rights situation in Tibet, including the government policies which threaten the survival of Tibet's traditional nomadic herders.

Mr Kayta informed the UNHRC that the Chinese security have inflicted great suffering on Tibetans since their peaceful protests against the government's wrong policies. "Tibetans have suffered immensely from Chinese security forces crackdown - extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, secret detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and custodial deaths, denial of legal rights and lack of the independence of the judiciary and harsh sentences," he said.

The Tibetans also suffer death penalty and intensified crackdown on spiritual teachers, human rights defenders, environmentalists, writers, intellectuals,

artists and Tibetan entrepreneurs, he added.

He further informed that council that since March 2008 protest, two Tibetans were executed and five political prisoners had been given death sentence with 2-year reprieve by a Chinese court.

"According to Tibetan sources, there are 831 known political prisoners of conscience as of 30 December 2010. Out of which, 360 were known to have been legally convicted by the Chinese courts.

Furthermore, 12 Tibetans were serving life imprisonment term. In 2010, 188 known Tibetans have been arrested and detained, out of which 71 have already been sentenced by the courts," he said.

"These tragic realities confronted by the Tibetan people is a direct result of China's slogan of "people's war" to suppress the uprising. Today, the Chinese authorities do not tolerate any expression of Tibetan aspiration. The reality of President Hu Jintao's "harmonious society" for Tibetans is a climate of fear, intimidation, domination and repression," he added.

Mr Kayta also voiced deep concern over the Chinese government policies

impacting the livelihoods of Tibetan nomadic herders.

"On 3 October 2007 three special procedure mandate holders of this Council intervened the Chinese government's policy of relocating Tibetan nomads and herders - "these policies have had a very adverse impact on the traditional lifestyles and living patterns in Tibetan areas, affecting directly the fabric of traditional Tibetan life and devastating the economy of these communities. The implementation of these policies contributes to the challenges that Tibetan cultural and religious identity face today." So far Chinese government had forcibly relocated 1.43 millions Tibetan nomads and herders from their ancestral land devoid of proper consultation," he said.

He apprised the council about how the Chinese government regulates their "legal system" to become the "authority" of the reincarnation process of Tibetan Buddhism.

"The communist cadres not only oversee the management of Tibet's religious institutions but, deny Tibetan monks and nuns in receiving basic education from spiritual teachers in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, culture and science. Instead, the Chinese authorities are enforcing psychological indoctrination through the so-called "patriotic education" under which Tibetan practitioners are forced to denounce their spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama," he told the council.

He told the council that the Tibetan people had rejected the so-called "Regulation on Management Measures for the Reincarnation of Living Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism" imposed by the Chinese government on 18 July 2007.

"In response a Special Meeting of the heads of the four religious schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the traditional Bon religion held in India on 3 May 2008 and adopted resolution in which they not only rejected atheist determination of religious domain but also declared that in future no reincarnated Tibetan spiritual leaders of the Tibetan Buddhist and Bon religions shall be considered as "true unless they have the final approval of the heads of the respective religious traditions," he added.

Google Accuses Chinese Government of Gmail Interference Again

Mr. Jampa Monlam former political prisoner and assistant Director, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy based in Dharamsala, India giving a testimony on the human rights situation in Tibet on 9th March in Geneva at a briefing organised by Human Right Watch on the human rights situation in China . Photo: TPI

By The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: Google has once again complained about Chinese authorities' alleged interference in its services, as

over the past several weeks Gmail users have reportedly encountered difficulties accessing and managing

their email accounts.

Google has directly accused the Chinese government of manipulation, saying in a written statement released by a Google spokesperson, "There is no technical issue on our side-we have checked extensively. (...) This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail."

Proxy servers which many people use to circumvent the infamous Great Firewall have also been disrupted, coinciding suspiciously with the recent pro-democracy 'Jasmine Uprising' against authoritarian one-party rule and lack of press freedoms in China, which has been gathering steam across the nation.

The 'highly sophisticated' attacks are thought to be targeting the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, according to a Google blog posting of 11 March.

31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

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There is no Improvement of Human Rights in Tibet: Rights Group

Mr. Jampa Monlam former political prisoner and assistant Director, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy based in Dharamsala, India giving a testimony on the human rights situation in Tibet on 9th March in Geneva at a briefing organised by Human Right Watch on the human rights situation in China . Photo: TPI

By The Tibet Post International

said this shows nationality discrimination. Also while the Chinese people are allowed to listen to Radio Free Asia, Tibetans in Tibet are forbidden.

There are over 500 Tibetans missing and 831 known political prisoners in Tibet today. "We are not against the Chinese government or people but want the world to know the true situation in Tibet.

I have spent half of my life in Tibet," he said.

About 50 people including representatives from 18 Foreign Missions to the UN attended the briefing. In July 2010 Human Rights Watch released "I saw it with my own eyes: Abuses by Chinese security forces in Tibet, 2008 -2010" report. It documented that subsequent crackdown that followed after the 2008 uprising across Tibet. The report was based on more than 200 interviews with Tibetan refugees and visitors conducted immediately after they left China.

The report details through eyewitness testimonies, a broad range of abuses committed by security forces both during and after protest incidents, including using disproportionate force in breaking up protests, proceeding to large-scale arbitrary arrests, brutalizing detainees, and torturing suspects in custody.

The report decisively refutes the Chinese government's claim that it handled the protests in line with international standards and domestic laws. The report details the Chinese government's own sources - the official willingness to use lethal force against unarmed protestors.

Geneva: - "There is no improvement of human rights in Tibet," said Mr. Jampa Monlam former political prisoner and assistant Director, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy based in Dharamsala, India. gave a testimony on the human rights situation in Tibet on 9th March at a briefing organised by Human Right Watch on the human rights situation in China.

The briefing took place during the UN Human Rights Council Session in Geneva. The other key speaker was Ms. Sophie Richardson, Advocacy Director Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

Ms. Richardson said China continues to violate the basic human rights. She said that top of the list was disappearance denying individuals being held by security forces.

The Asian Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch said that the mass arrest that followed after the 2008 uprising in Tibet by the Chinese security forces had gone un-noticed. The Chinese authorities showed profound disrespect for Tibetans way of life.

Mr. Monlam said he was speaking as a former political prisoner who was tortured during five years and six months imprisonment. He was first arrested in 1987 and on two other occasions for taking part in demonstrations in Lhasa.

"To maintain stability, the Chinese authorities in Tibet are using every means of force to create stability," he said. "In the monasteries, there is no religious freedom."

Mr. Monlam said that while the Chinese prisoners are allowed to hire lawyers, the same right is denied to Tibetans. He

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Mr. Thomas Keimel Dr. Vincent Brucel Mr. YC. Dhardhowa Ms. Keary Huang Mr. Sangay Dorjee Ven Phuntsok Dhondup Mr. Tenzin Kunga Mr. James Dunn Ms. Pema Tso

Contributors for this Editon

Keary Huang James Dunn Mathew Singh Toor Carly Selby-James YC. Dhardhowa Sangay Dorjee Pema Tso The Tibet Post International Himalayan Literacy Trust (Head Office) 1st Floor, Exile House Road, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala, Distt.

Kangra H.P 176219 India

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31 March, 2011 Dharamsala

TPI VIEWS & ANALYSIS

New 'Right-Wing' Party Challenges Communist Grip on China

Wei Jingsheng: The father of Chinese democracy. Photo: Getty

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: Several overseas experts on China have drawn attention to the existence of a new rising influence in the narrow, one-party realm of Chinese communist politics, referring to the emergence of the little-known Boyuan Foundation, which began in Hong Kong in October 2007 and which, by avoiding direct political opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has thus far been tolerated by the Chinese regime.

The Foundation's Board of Directors and advisors boast impressive international credentials and experience in the world of finance, working within the system rather than undermining it in order to bring about reform.

Prominent Chinese human rights activist Wei Jingsheng has described the 'new right-wing party' as advocating 'a Western democratic path for China', adding that "It is fully aware of the fact that the Chinese Communist Party's old

way of working is no longer effective" and that the struggling CCP's faltering grip on its ruling status is well known.

The foundation's Council Chairman, Qin Xiao, has openly challenged the 'socalled Chinese model' of economic development, criticising the extent of the government's involvement in the market and the hoarding of wealth as well as the rampant corruption and lack of accountability in China's 'oversized bureaucracy'. He argued that China should turn to a more internationally acceptable value system based on rationality, liberty and individual rights.

Qin made the critical comments to both The Epoch Times and Chinese Financial Times, demonstrating what he says is the difference between the approach of the Boyuan Foundation and that of dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo, currently serving an 11-year sentence on charges of subverting state power, in that he knows when to stoke the fire and when to take a step back.

The views and methods of the Boyuan Foundation in changing the outdated Chinese Communist Party's modus operandi from the inside out and advocating democratic and economic policy reform while maintaining a restrained yet provocative approach could be seen as providing a small ray ray of hope to all those who persistently subscribe to the idea that with the introduction of Capitalism, inevitably, there follows Democracy.

The James Bond of Tibetan Buddhism: New Book

By Cornelius Lundsgaard, The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: Described by author Eric Weiner as 'the James Bond of Tibetan Buddhism', writer/activist Matteo Pistono has written a most unusual and interesting account of Tibet with his book "In the Shadow of the Buddha: Secret Journeys, Sacred Histories and Spiritual Discovery in Tibet" written through the eyes of a stranger hiding in plain sight.

According to Pistono's own website (www.matteopistono.com), the book is about how a culture's rich spiritual past is slipping away against the force of a tyrannical future, but also about his own journey of merging political activism with Buddhist mysticism, as a man who travelled thousands of miles and risked his own life to pursue freedom and peace.

For nearly a decade, Matteo Pistono secretly collected evidence of atrocities committed by the Chinese government in Tibet, presenting it to the US government, human rights organisations, and anyone who would listen. Yet, Pistono did not originally intend to fight for social justice in Tibet - he had gone there as a Buddhist pilgrim. As he traversed the Tibetan Plateau, however, his spiritual quest quickly took on other dimensions: "Tibetans not only told me their stories, but early into my pilgrimage they asked me to spirit such firsthand accounts of

Candlelight Vigil Held for Monk Dead by Self-Immolation in Tibet procession of monks, nuns and laypeople bearing candles and chanting prayers together with foreign supporters of Tibet also in attendance.

The procession ended at the Main Temple where an impassioned address was made to those gathered sombrely in mourning.

The memorial statue outside the temple was adorned with flowers, candles and pictures of the smiling 20-year-old and the ceremony ended with the reading of a press release (below) encouraging people to take action, before finally a prayer was sung for the young martyr, tragically lost, as people spilled out into the streets.

Press Release: Tibetan NGOs stand in solidarity with yesterday's monk selfimmolation in Tibet Dharamsala, March 17 - The five major Tibetan NGO's in Dharamsala unite today to express solidarity in response to the brutal suppression by the Chinese government of the Tibetan protestors in Amdo Ngaba yesterday.

The incredible expression of unrelenting courage and determination by our brave Tibetan brothers and sisters in Amdo Ngaba exemplifies that no amount of force can kill the spirit of the Tibetan people.

According to reliable sources, a 20 yearold Tibetan monk of Kirti Monastery in Amdo Ngaba County initiated a solo protest in Meru market place before setting himself ablaze. Sources report that around 4pm Beijing time, Phuntsok carried out a protest to commemorate the 3rd Anniversary of the protest on 16 March 2008 in Ngaba County and the subsequent ruthless crackdown by

the Chinese government who shot dead at least ten Tibetans. 2008 was a watershed year in the history of Tibetan struggle for Independence. For the first time, massive protests engulfed Tibet in all three provinces resulting in hundreds of Tibetan deaths due to shootings, executions, torture, scores of disappearances and hundreds of arrests and detentions by the Chinese government.

Sources comment that Chinese security officials immediately arrived at the scene, doused the fire, and beat Phuntsok. The officials tried to whisk him away in a waiting police van when scores of Tibetans ran to the spot and saved Phuntsok from the police. The crowd immediately grew in numbers and carried Phuntsok off to his monastery.

Unfortunately Phuntsok succumbed to his injuries and died.

In the meantime hundreds of angry monks and lay Tibetans gathered at the main Meru market in mass protest chanting slogans calling for Tibet's independence and long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Immediately security reinforcements were brought in from neighbouring areas to crush the protestors. Hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested while scores suffered serious injuries from overwhelming Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) forces who used iron rods and electric batons.

The five major Tibetan NGOs condemn the continued inhumane treatment of the Tibetan people and remind the government of China that the seismic waves of Tunisia and the Middle Eastern countries have reached Tibet.

The Tibet Post

The government of China cannot ignore the surge of Tibetan people's conviction and power. This is the second self-immolation by a Kirti Monastery monk. On 27 February 2009, Tapey, a monk in his mid-twenties, set himself ablaze to protest decisions by local authorities prohibiting Kirti monks from observing the Monlam Festival, a traditional prayer festival that is held after Tibetan New Year (Losar). Reports at the time indicated that Chinese police opened fire on Tapey while he was still in flames. Tapey survived miraculously, but was taken into custody along with his mother somewhere in Chengdu. No one has seen or heard about them since then.

As we Tibetans in exile prepare and brace ourselves for the coming days of expected violent suppression by the Chinese government, we propose to fellow Tibetans and Tibet supporters around the world to take up the following plan-of-action.

1. Call the Special Coordinator on Tibet, Ms. Maria Otero who is also the United States Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Tel: 202647-118 2. Call your respective governments' Embassies/ Consulates in New Delhi.

For any numbers in New Delhi you can call the directory helpline 011 22 22 22 22. There will be a minimal charge for this call 3. Call the U.S. Embassy in Beijing: 8610 8531-3000 U.S. Consulate in Changdu: 86-28 8558 3992 When you call, please make sure you introduce yourself and express the urgent need to immediately respond to

Author riding a horse in Tibet. Photo: matteopistono.com

In the Shadow of the Buddha: Secret Journeys, Sacred Histories, and Spiritual Discovery in Tibet. Photo cover: www.matteopistono.com

human rights abuses out of Tibet and into the hands of Western governments and advocacy groups. (...) I became a courier of often graphic accounts of torture and abuse. This required I evade China's vast security network of plainclothed security agents, undercover cops in monk's robes, and the sophisticated cyberpolice. And I began photographing Chinese secret prisons where Tibetan monks and nuns are incarcerated for their Buddhist beliefs. The journey in (...) became a different kind of pilgrimage."

- excerpt from the first chapter Having received outstanding reviews by some of the world's most knowledgeable people on the subject of Tibet, this book is good to read and it is with excitement and impatience that I look forward to obtaining a copy of "In the Shadow of the Buddha" by Pistono the political pilgrim.

'Disappeared' Chinese Rights Lawyer Wins London Award

Dharamshala: Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer and prodemocracy advocate Gao Zhisheng has been awarded the Bindman's Law and Campaigning Award at the Index on Censorship: Freedom of Expression Awards in London, in recognition of his

work for vulnerable individuals and groups facing persecution by the Chinese regime.

Those represented by Gao included medical malpractice victims, religious minorities and practitioners of Falun Gong, the peaceful movement frequently attacked by the Chinese government through vicious abductions and torture and hateful propaganda.

Gao has been missing ever since his abduction in 2007 by Chinese authorities. His wife accepted the ward on his behalf via video, praising her husband's honourable actions and courageous refusal to back down, even when threatened by the government, saying "My husband's case is a true presentation of China's ongoing human rights crisis".

the critical situation in Ngaba and ask them to contact the Chinese authorities for clarification on the incident and emerging reports that the area has been put under heavy military surveillance.

Please make it a point to mention that you will follow up on this call and do follow up. It is important to mention that the intervention of the International Community in this matter is highly relevant and important in order to ensure that truth, justce and non-violence still have a place in this world.

1. Call the Chinese Embassy in New

Delhi. Ambassador: H.E. Mr. Zhang Yan Tel: 91-11-2611 2345. Political Section: Tel: 91-11-2467 9299. Press Office: Tel: 91-11-2688 1249. Email: chinaemb_in@mfa.gov.cn This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Contact information for Beijing Embassies can be found at http://www.chinahighlights.com/ embassy/embassy-in-china/beijing/ 2. Tell your friends and families about this incident and how they can help through facebook, twitter and other social networks and microblogging.

Gao Zhisheng File Photo: AFP

By Carly Selby-James, The Tibet Post