Tibetans set themselves on fire
Source: Xinhua |
May 29, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ONE man died and another was seriously injured after they set themselves on fire on a busy street in downtown Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Dargye, from Aba in the Tibetan area of Sichuan Province, and Tobgye Tseten, from Xiahe County in a Tibetan community in Gansu Province, attempted self-immolation at 2:16pm on Sunday on Pargor Street in the heart of Lhasa, the publicity department of Tibet's regional committee of the Communist Party of China said yesterday.
It said police put out the flames within two minutes and sent the men to hospital. Dargye survived but Tobgye Tseten died. Dargye is stable and able to talk.
They were the first cases of self-immolation in Lhasa, though a spate of similar incidents have taken place in the Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces in the past year.
Downtown Lhasa is crowded these days as Tibetans celebrate Saga Dawa, falling on the 15th day of the fourth month in the Tibetan calendar and marking the anniversary of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death.
Large crowds of pilgrims walk clockwise around Pargor Street in observance of Buddhist ritual.
A senior official in Tibet condemned the Lhasa self-immolations, saying they were separatist attempts.
"They were a continuation of the self-immolations in other Tibetan areas and these acts were all aimed at separating Tibet from China," said Hao Peng, secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Tibet Committee.
Police set up a special task force to investigate the case.
More than 20 Tibetans have died from self-immolations since March 2011. Most were lamas, nuns or former clergy members, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Investigators found in many cases that photos of the designated self-immolators had been sent to separatist forces abroad, indicating that the self-immolations had been carefully planned. After the tragedies, separatist forces would publish the photos alongside pictures of the self-immolation scenes to play up the situation.
Premier Wen Jiabao said at a press conference after the conclusion of the annual parliamentary session in mid-March that China opposes Tibetan clergy taking such radical moves of self-immolation to disturb and undermine social harmony.
"The young Tibetans are innocent and we feel deeply distressed by their behavior," Wen said, adding the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile in India is in nature a theocratic one, under the direct control of Dalai Lama or under his indirect influence.
"Its purpose is to separate Tibet and the Tibetan-inhabited areas from China. We have a firm position and principle on this matter," the premier said.
Dargye, from Aba in the Tibetan area of Sichuan Province, and Tobgye Tseten, from Xiahe County in a Tibetan community in Gansu Province, attempted self-immolation at 2:16pm on Sunday on Pargor Street in the heart of Lhasa, the publicity department of Tibet's regional committee of the Communist Party of China said yesterday.
It said police put out the flames within two minutes and sent the men to hospital. Dargye survived but Tobgye Tseten died. Dargye is stable and able to talk.
They were the first cases of self-immolation in Lhasa, though a spate of similar incidents have taken place in the Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces in the past year.
Downtown Lhasa is crowded these days as Tibetans celebrate Saga Dawa, falling on the 15th day of the fourth month in the Tibetan calendar and marking the anniversary of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death.
Large crowds of pilgrims walk clockwise around Pargor Street in observance of Buddhist ritual.
A senior official in Tibet condemned the Lhasa self-immolations, saying they were separatist attempts.
"They were a continuation of the self-immolations in other Tibetan areas and these acts were all aimed at separating Tibet from China," said Hao Peng, secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Tibet Committee.
Police set up a special task force to investigate the case.
More than 20 Tibetans have died from self-immolations since March 2011. Most were lamas, nuns or former clergy members, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Investigators found in many cases that photos of the designated self-immolators had been sent to separatist forces abroad, indicating that the self-immolations had been carefully planned. After the tragedies, separatist forces would publish the photos alongside pictures of the self-immolation scenes to play up the situation.
Premier Wen Jiabao said at a press conference after the conclusion of the annual parliamentary session in mid-March that China opposes Tibetan clergy taking such radical moves of self-immolation to disturb and undermine social harmony.
"The young Tibetans are innocent and we feel deeply distressed by their behavior," Wen said, adding the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile in India is in nature a theocratic one, under the direct control of Dalai Lama or under his indirect influence.
"Its purpose is to separate Tibet and the Tibetan-inhabited areas from China. We have a firm position and principle on this matter," the premier said.
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