B.RAMAN
As the 18th Congress of the Communist
Party of China scheduled to take place in Beijing on November 8,2012,
approaches, members of GenNext of Tibetans are desperately taking to more and
more self-immolations in an attempt to awaken the conscience of the
international community to the plight of the Tibetans.
2. The fact that during the recent three
Presidential debates in the US, neither President Barack Obama nor his
challenger Mr.Mitt Romney made even a reference in passing to the human rights
situation in the Tibetan areas of China has added to their desperation.
3. In the perception of young Tibetans, only the US
political leadership and public opinion are in a position to exercise moral
pressure on the Chinese leaders to address the human rights concerns of the
Tibetans. The almost total absence of any reference to this issue during the
current election campaign in the US is driving more young Tibetans to
self-immolation.
4. This week
has seen seven self-immolation attempts---- the largest number in a week since
self-immolations started in the beginning of last year. Six of them proved
fatal--- the largest number of fatalities in a week. Till now, the total number
of self-immolations has reached 62 in all the Tibetan areas put together.
5.While the self-immolations continue to be
concentrated in the Sichuan province where monks of the Kirti monastery rose in
revolt last year against Chinese suppression by taking to self-immolation, it
has been spreading to other Tibetan areas too affecting many youngsters who are
not monks. It is no longer a protest
movement confined only to the monks.
6.Of the seven incidents reported this week, five
were in the Gansu province and two in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). On
October 25,2012, two young Tibetan cousins aged 20 and 25 resorted to
self-immolation in front of the local school in Driru (Biru in Chinese) in the
Nagchu Prefecture (Naqu in Chinese) of the TAR.
7. According to Radio Free Asia, there
have been seven self-immolations so far in the TAR—three in Driru, two in Lhasa and one each in Chamdo county's Karma
township, and in the town of Damshung, just outside Lhasa. Tibetans
in Driru have been in the forefront of opposition to Chinese rule in the TAR.
8.The same day, two other young Tibetans aged 21
and 25 committed self-immolation in the Gansu province.
9. The Chinese authorities seem to suspect that the
spreading self-immolations across the entire Tibetan belt are not spontaneous,
but are being co-ordinated by some clandestine organisation. They have
announced a reward of US $ 32000 to anyone giving information as to who are
behind the self-immolations. ( 28-10-12)
(The writer
is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi,
and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate
of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter @SORBONNE75)
