BEIJING (AFP), 2 February – A senior Tibetan monk who self-immolated last month urged Tibetans to unite and called for the return of the Dalai Lama in a message recorded before his death, advocacy groups said on Thursday.
Lama Sobha, also known as Sonam Wangyal, was the most senior of 16 Tibetan clerics and former monks to have set themselves alight in the past year in protest against China’s policies in Tibetan-inhabited areas.
In the nine-minute audio recording, Lama Sobha said his sacrifice was in solidarity with ‘heroes’ who have died seeking to protect Tibetan culture, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said in a statement.
The people of Tibet ‘must unite and work together to build a strong and prosperous Tibetan nation in the future,’ the group quoted him as saying.