Panel condemns Chinese crackdown on Kirti Monastery[Monday, 16 May 2011]
NEW DELHI:
A panel of distinguished speakers today criticised the series of severe
crackdowns initiated by the Chinese authorities on Kirti Monastery in
Ngaba area of northeastern Tibet as an attempt to change and neutralise
Tibet’s distinctive religious and cultural character.The
discussion titled “Renewed Religious Repression in Tibet: Siege of
Kirti Monastery” was organised jointly by All Party Indian
Parliamentary Forum for Tibet and Core Group for Tibetan Cause, India
at the India International Center in New Delhi.Ambassador Dalip
Mehta, former ambassador to Bhutan and the Central Asian Republics of
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan said the ongoing crisis in
Ngaba once again highlights the brutality of Chinese government and its
barbaric human rights abuses in Tibet. Chinese policies in Tibet over
the last five decades, Ambassador Mehta said, are aimed at making
Tibetans a minority in their own homeland and promoting sinification of
Tibetan character, culture, and identity. He said Tibetan religion is
the bedrock of Tibetan culture and civilisation, therefore, destroying
Tibetan religious culture is tantamount to obliterating the unique
cultural identity of Tibetan people and their sense of nationhood.Ambassador
Mehta said brutal Chinese retaliations to Tibetan grievances have
become a “spectacular failure” because it has failed to break the will
and spirit of the Tibetans and has only worsened the widening gap
between the Tibetan and Chinese people. “The Chinese authorities have
failed to understand the psyche of the Tibetan people,” Ambassador
Mehta said.Kalon Tempa Tsering, representative of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama in New Delhi said the crisis at Kirti Monastery is a
symptom of general Tibetan resentment against decades of wrong and
unjust Chinese policies of discrimination, destruction and exploitation
in Tibet. Instead of genuinely understanding and addressing Tibetan
grievances, Kalon Tempa Tsering said the Chinese authorities have
resorted to repressive and arbitrary measures of beating, arresting,
detaining, and disappearing Tibetan protesters and their sympathisers
as it happened at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba. If the Tibetans
are so happy in China’s “socialist paradise”, why do we still have
Tibetans risking their lives undertaking dangerous journeys across the
Himalayas to escape into exile and why do we have young monks like
Phuntsok and Tapey who set themselves on fire to protest Chinese
policies, Kalon Tempa Tsering said. He said Tibetan
monasteries are not just houses of worship but also centers of learning
and fountainheads of Tibetan culture and civilisation. By cracking down
on monastic institutions, he said, the Chinese authorities want to
eliminate Tibetan identity and culture. But there is no death to human
spirit despite all the torture, imprisonment, and repression, he said.
“And the Tibetan spirit has not died, be it in exile or in Tibet.”Veteran
journalist and a seasoned Tibet analyst Mr. Vijay Kranti said the
crisis at Kirti Monastery – the consistent protests and resistance
against Chinese rule – has broken the myths China has promoted on
Tibet. Mr Kranti said the self-immolated death of the 20-yr-old monk
Phuntsok and the protests it sparked among both lay and monk population
in Ngaba demonstrates the fact that Tibetans are not happy under
Chinese rule as claimed repeatedly by Beijing. The level of resentment
against Chinese rule is so high that young Tibetans educated in the
Chinese system are willing to sacrifice their lives and express their
faith and devotion to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he added. Mr
Kranti who travelled to Ngaba and Kandze areas in the past on photo
expeditions said the Chinese way of showcasing Tibetan monasteries for
tourist consumption may mislead some to think that there is genuine
religious revival in Tibet. But this cosmetic revival aimed at making
“touro-dollars” off the mystical qualities of Tibetan religion and
culture has failed to overcome Tibetan resentments, he said. But far
from the touristy dazzle in Ngaba that China calls economic
development, reality for Tibetans have not changed much and the current
crisis in Kirti Monastery provided sufficient evidence.
