TO CHINA: Prove Dalai Lama/CTA hand in self-immolations

Dharamsala, December 10, 2012: The Tibetan Governing Body in Exile, The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has invited the Chinese authorities to send an investigative team to Dharamsala, India, to prove their assertion that the self-immolations are incited by the Central Tibetan Administration and the Dalai Lama.

This is in the wake of a recent Xinhua report alleging that two Tibetans have confessed that the Dalai Lama has instructed Tibetans to self-immolate.

Stating this in Dharamsala on Monday, the Prime Minister (Sikyong) of the Tibetan Government -in –Exile, Dr Lobsang Sangay said, “If China genuinely wishes to end the self-immolations, instead of resorting to the blame game it should allow unfettered access to international bodies to Tibetan areas to investigate the root causes for these self-immolations.”

He said that the United Nations has requested the Chinese authorities to allow its agencies to visit Tibet to investigate the causes of Tibetans setting themselves on fire.

The Central Tibetan Administration believes that there is a way for China to end the crisis in Tibet. This path has been clearly laid out by the Dalai Lama when he enunciated the middle-way policy. The Middle-Way policy does not seek independence for Tibet. Rather it seeks that the Tibetan plateau come under one single administration which enjoys real autonomy within the scope of the constitution of the People’s Republic China.

 The democratically-elected leader of the Tibetan people and political successor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, the PM in Exile Dr Lobsang Sangay said,” The Central Tibetan Administration believes that, the aspiration of the Tibetan people has been expressed by all the 95 Tibetans who self-immolated. All of them without exception called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to his homeland and freedom for the people of Tibet.”