འབྲེལ་གཏུགས་གསར་འཕྲིན།
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A Free Monthly Publication For Tibetan Issues & Community Information Rgd No. HPENG/2013/51798
More Immolations in 2014 Lobsang Palden, a Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in Ngaba County, Tibet at around 11:30 am (local time) on March 16. Chinese police immediately arrived at the site and bundled him away in a vehicle. Phayul has reported that Lobsang Palden, also known as Khechok Palden, left a text message on his phone in Lobsang Palden which he prayed for his parents, family members, teachers and relatives. He also called for unity among Tibetans. “We should maintain cordial relations with others, particularly with Chinese because if we are united and have love for each other, no matter what our thoughts are, it will enable us to communicate with each other better.” Local Tibetans shut down their shops and restaurants to express solidarity with the monk’s family members. Lobsang Palden was the son of Namkho and Sherab of the “Ashertsang” in Ngaba Meruma village. Lobsang died on Friday 21 March. Jigme Tenzin, 29, a monk from Sonag monastery in Jhador township set himself on fire outside his monastery around 7:30 am (local time), also on March 16. Fellow monks managed to carry his charred body inside the monastery and he died later the same day. Several monks from the Sonag monastery, which is in Tsekhog County, Malho Prefecture, were interrogated at the local police station. Most of Continued on page 5
Volume: XVI Issue: 2
FEB-MARCH 2014
The World Honours Tibet on Uprising Day by Caleb Heeringa Thousands of people around the globe took to the streets on March 10, marking the 55th anniversary of the mass demonstrations across Tibet that led to a violent crackdown by the Chinese government and the exile of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government. Now millions of people across the Tibetan plateau are facing forced assimilation under Chinese rule, but their rage and pain is being felt on the other side of the planet. Tibetan National Uprising Day featured calls for the Chinese government to recognise Tibetan autonomy within its borders, resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-exile, and to address the grievances of the 128 Tibetans who have self-immolated in protest against Chinese rule in recent years. In New York City, hundreds marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to the United Nations headquarters, waving
Chen Guangcheng speaks at the March 10 commemoration in New York city. Photo: Phayul
Tibetan flags and shouting pro-Tibet slogans. A member of the Tibetan Youth Congress petitioned the United Nations High Commissioner on Human
Rights for more action on the Tibet issue. The rally then moved through Times Square to the Chinese Consulate, where Chinese dissidents, including legal scholar Chen Guangcheng, spoke. “China’s unjust rule in Tibet has led to the killing of a million Tibetans, the destruction of thousands of temples and monasteries, the diluting and destroying of the Tibetan language and culture, and the irreversible damage to the natural environment on the Tibetan plateau,”
Tibetans and supporters rally in London Photo: Tibet.net
said Chen. “It has also resulted in the 55 year long exile of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and produced nearly 200,000 Tibetan refugees, condemning them to a state of permanent exile.” Similar rallies were held in cities across the United States, including San Francisco, Chicago and Salt Lake City. In the United Kingdom, protesters marched from Downing Street, through central London to the Chinese Embassy, showing solidarity with Tibetans living under Chinese rule, reported Tibet.net. Elsewhere in Europe, Tibet advocates in Belgium marked the occasion by raising Tibetan flags in more than 56 towns around the country. Many countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Continued on page 6