Young Tibetan Burns Himself in a Monastery
FEB. 24, 2013—A young Tibetan torched himself at a monastery in Qinghai province on
Sunday in protest against Beijing's "hardline" policy in Tibet,
triggering a security clampdown, according to sources.
Phakmo
Dhondup, in his 20's, set himself alight at the compound of the Jachung
monastery in Tsapon township in Tsoshar (in Chinese, Haidong)
prefecture’s Bayan Khar (Hualong) county but was immediately taken to a
nearby hospital with serious burns, the sources from inside Tibet said. "At
around 8 p.m., he self-immolated in protest against the hardline
Chinese policy in Tibet," a source told RFA's Tibetan Service. "He was
immediately rushed to the local hospital and is being treated." Phakmo
Dhondup, who lives in Upper Sakar village close to the Jachung
monastery, is the 105th Tibetan so far to self-immolate in protests
questioning Chinese rule in Tibetan-populated areas and calling for the
return of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. "Monks at
the monastery are conducting special prayers for his recovery," the RFA
source said. "At the same time several hundred security forces have
arrived at the monastery and imposed restrictions," the source said.Beijing has stepped up its crackdown to preempt Tibetan self-immolation protests but to no avail. Chinese
courts have jailed a number of Tibetans, including monks, over their
suspected roles in the burnings in the last few weeks. Some were given
jail terms of up to 13 years. Human rights groups have
criticized the Chinese authorities for criminalizing the burning
protests and cracking down on Tibetans deemed to have provided
encouragement or support.Chinese authorities have also deployed
paramilitary forces and restricted communications and travel in the
areas where self-immolations have occurred.AppalledMany
of the recent self-immolators are young Tibetans appalled by the human
rights abuses and excessive controls imposed by the Chinese authorities,
rights groups say.Twenty-two of the Tibetans who have
self-immolated so far have been 18-years old or younger, according to
figures compiled by the International Campaign for Tibet advocacy group.
More than 80 of the 105 self-immolators so far have died in the
burnings.The self-immolations by the new generation of Tibetans
born under Chinese rule “are sending an unequivocal message to the world
about the gravity of the situation in Tibet,” said Dicki Chhoyang,
Minister of Information and International Relations in the
Dharamsala-based Tibetan exile government, the Central Tibetan
Administration.She told a meeting in Geneva last week ahead of
the 2013 UN Human Rights Council session that China must be held
accountable to the pledges it made to the world body to improve its
human rights record.Beijing has defended its rule of Tibet and
says the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders in exile have orchestrated
the self-immolations from their base in India.But Tibetan exile
leaders deny involvement in the burnings and have called on Tibetans in
Tibetan-populated regions of China to exercise restraint.Reported by RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/burning-02242013160717.html
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