China: 'Tibetan monk's body paraded after self-immolation'

[Adnan Faruqi]

China: 'Tibetan monk's body paraded after self-immolation'

Dead man is third Tibetan to set fire to himself in three days and 15th in last year in protests against China's rule

Tania Branigan in Beijing

The body of a monk who burned himself to death has been paraded through the streets of a town in north-west China by hundreds of Tibetans, it has been reported.

The dead man was the third Tibetan to set fire to himself in three days and the 15th over the last year. The monk – named as 42-year-old Sopa - was from Qinghai province, previously untouched by the spate of self-immolations.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that he climbed a local hill to burn incense and pray before distributing leaflets saying he would act "not for his personal glory but for Tibet and the happiness of Tibetans". It cited an unnamed source inside Tibet.

Another source told RFA that hundreds of Tibetans later marched to the police station in Dari, Golog prefecture, where officials had taken his body. The police initially refused demands to hand over his remains, but relented after protesters smashed windows and doors.

RFA said security in the area was tightened after the incident. It was not possible to verify the protest independently. Calls to the police and government in Dari rang unanswered. But Agence France Presse said official news agency Xinhua had confirmed the death, although they identified the man as Nyage Sonamdrugyu, aged 40.

Most of the previous cases took place in Sichuan province's Aba county, where tensions between authorities and the large Tibetan population have run high since the unrest of 2008.

Witnesses have said several of those who self-immolated chanted for Tibetan freedom and called for the return of the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader.

Xinhua confirmed this weekend that two men had set fire to themselves in Aba on Friday, with one dying while the other suffered serious burns.

It quoted a Tibetan expert who said the "Dalai Lama clique" had "instigated and enticed" the men to self-immolate. The Dalai Lama has denied Chinese accusations that he has encouraged such acts and blamed Chinese policies.

The Karmapa, a senior religious figure viewed as a possible successor to the Dalai Lama, has gone further by urging Tibetans to stop self-immolation.

In an indication of the growing anxiety among officials, Xinhua announced on Monday that senior officials in Tibet had promised "stepped-up efforts to strengthen the management of monasteries in the fight against the Dalai Lama group".

Basang Toinzhub, a senior political adviser in the region, said that advisers would help the government push forward patriotic and legal education among monks and nuns – one of the policies which critics say has fostered resentment among the clergy.

His remarks came a day after Chen Quanguo, Tibet's Communist party chief, made a similar promise.


China: 'Tibetan monk's body paraded after self-immolation' | World news | guardian.co.uk

Its a big shame and inhuman attitude by govt of china.

First they occupied Tibetan land and now disrespecting dead Tibetans

Free Tibet

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

I wouldn't trust guardian, they sound more like a tabloid these days

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

15th monk self-immolates, dies in Tibet: reports | Firstpost

Beijing: A Tibetan monk in western China died after setting himself ablaze in protest against the government, marking the 15th self-immolation in the country’s restive mountainous region since March, an exiled Tibetan spokesman said on Monday.

Sonam Wangyal, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, set himself on fire in front of a police station in Darlag county in Qinghai province on Sunday to protest against the lack of religious freedom, Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Central Tibetan Administration, said in an emailed statement.

China’s official Xinhua news agency confirmed the death.

Radio Free Asia said in an earlier report the monk, aged in his 40s, drank kerosene, doused his body in the fuel, and then set himself on fire while calling for the return of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.


A Tibetan demonstrator near the Chinese embassy in New Delhi on 23 Nov. At least eight of 15 Tibetans who have self-immolated in the past 10 months are believed to have died. Reuters

He died at the scene and his body was taken away by police, the report said, citing unidentified sources there.

The act of deadly defiance by the high-ranking monk — called a “Living Buddha”, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency — followed two other self-immolations near the Kirti Monastery in an ethnically Tibetan part of China’s Sichuan province on Friday.

At least eight of the 15 Tibetans who have self-immolated in the past 10 months — most of whom were Buddhist monks and nuns — are believed to have died.

The spokesman for the exiled Tibetan government in Dharamsala in India said thousands had protested on Sunday in the area of Qinghai province that borders the official Tibet region, demanding that authorities return the body.

“Due to his position as a local spiritual leader, approximately 2,000 local Tibetans are said to have held a candlelight vigil urging the local police authorities to release his body. The local police averted further tension by agreeing to do so,” spokesman Thubten Samphel said.

Xinhua said the body of the latest monk to have died, whose name it spelled as Nyage Sonamdrugyu, was returned to relatives.

Calls to officials in Darlag county, called Dari in Mandarin Chinese, went unanswered on Monday.

For the Chinese government, the self-immolations are a small but destabilising challenge to its regional policies, which it says have lifted Tibetans out of poverty and servitude.

China has ruled since Communist troops marched into Tibet in 1950 and says Tibetans are free to practise their Buddhist faith. There are also many ethnic Tibetans who live in provinces neighbouring the official Tibetan region.

Senior officials in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region vowed to boost stability in Tibet as well as “patriotic legal education” among Buddhist monks and nuns after the self-immolations, Xinhua reported separately on Sunday.

China’s Foreign Ministry has branded the self-immolators “terrorists” and has said the Dalai Lama, whom it condemns as a supporter of violent separatism, should take the blame for the “immoral” burnings.

In March 2008, deadly riots against the Chinese presence spread across the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan regions ahead of the Beijing Olympics, triggering sometimes deadly confrontations with troops and police.

The Dalai Lama has not condemned or condoned the burnings but said the desperate conditions Tibetans face under Beijing’s rigid controls in what amounted to “cultural genocide” have led to the spate of self-immolations.

He denies advocating violence and separatism and insists he wants only real autonomy for his homeland.

---------- Post added at 05:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:46 PM ----------

15th monk self-immolates, dies in Tibet: reports | Firstpost

Beijing: A Tibetan monk in western China died after setting himself ablaze in protest against the government, marking the 15th self-immolation in the country’s restive mountainous region since March, an exiled Tibetan spokesman said on Monday.

Sonam Wangyal, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, set himself on fire in front of a police station in Darlag county in Qinghai province on Sunday to protest against the lack of religious freedom, Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Central Tibetan Administration, said in an emailed statement.

China’s official Xinhua news agency confirmed the death.

Radio Free Asia said in an earlier report the monk, aged in his 40s, drank kerosene, doused his body in the fuel, and then set himself on fire while calling for the return of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.


A Tibetan demonstrator near the Chinese embassy in New Delhi on 23 Nov. At least eight of 15 Tibetans who have self-immolated in the past 10 months are believed to have died. Reuters

He died at the scene and his body was taken away by police, the report said, citing unidentified sources there.

The act of deadly defiance by the high-ranking monk — called a “Living Buddha”, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency — followed two other self-immolations near the Kirti Monastery in an ethnically Tibetan part of China’s Sichuan province on Friday.

At least eight of the 15 Tibetans who have self-immolated in the past 10 months — most of whom were Buddhist monks and nuns — are believed to have died.

The spokesman for the exiled Tibetan government in Dharamsala in India said thousands had protested on Sunday in the area of Qinghai province that borders the official Tibet region, demanding that authorities return the body.

“Due to his position as a local spiritual leader, approximately 2,000 local Tibetans are said to have held a candlelight vigil urging the local police authorities to release his body. The local police averted further tension by agreeing to do so,” spokesman Thubten Samphel said.

Xinhua said the body of the latest monk to have died, whose name it spelled as Nyage Sonamdrugyu, was returned to relatives.

Calls to officials in Darlag county, called Dari in Mandarin Chinese, went unanswered on Monday.

For the Chinese government, the self-immolations are a small but destabilising challenge to its regional policies, which it says have lifted Tibetans out of poverty and servitude.

China has ruled since Communist troops marched into Tibet in 1950 and says Tibetans are free to practise their Buddhist faith. There are also many ethnic Tibetans who live in provinces neighbouring the official Tibetan region.

Senior officials in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region vowed to boost stability in Tibet as well as “patriotic legal education” among Buddhist monks and nuns after the self-immolations, Xinhua reported separately on Sunday.

China’s Foreign Ministry has branded the self-immolators “terrorists” and has said the Dalai Lama, whom it condemns as a supporter of violent separatism, should take the blame for the “immoral” burnings.

In March 2008, deadly riots against the Chinese presence spread across the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan regions ahead of the Beijing Olympics, triggering sometimes deadly confrontations with troops and police.

The Dalai Lama has not condemned or condoned the burnings but said the desperate conditions Tibetans face under Beijing’s rigid controls in what amounted to “cultural genocide” have led to the spate of self-immolations.

He denies advocating violence and separatism and insists he wants only real autonomy for his homeland.

---------- Post added at 05:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:46 PM ----------

I wouldn't trust guardian, they sound more like a tabloid these days

You can trust Xinhua.

AFP: Tibetan monk self-immolates in China: Xinhua

Tibetan monk self-immolates in China: Xinhua

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

BEIJING — A Tibetan monk died after self-immolating in China over the weekend, state media said Monday, taking to 15 the number of people who set themselves on fire in Tibetan areas in less than a year.

Nyage Sonamdrugyu, 40, set himself ablaze early Sunday morning in Qinghai in northwest China, the official Xinhua news agency reported, adding the monk was a high-ranking lama -- a Tibetan Buddhist teacher.

It is the first time the Tibetan-inhabited province has been hit by such a protest. Most self-immolations have taken place in the neighbouring province of Sichuan, in what rights groups have said are protests against perceived religious repression.

It is unclear why Nyage Sonamdrugyu set himself on fire in Gyumai town, part of the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Golog.

The incident comes after two former monks in Sichuan set themselves on fire on Friday -- one of whom died and another who is being treated in hospital.

Many Tibetans in China accuse the government of religious repression and eroding their culture, as the country's majority Han ethnic group increasingly moves into historically Tibetan areas.

But China rejects this, saying Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and pointing to huge ongoing investment, which it says has brought modernisation and a better standard of living.