TIBETANS Protest China's victimisation

Dharamsala, March 21, 2013: Kunchok Wangmo, 31, a Tibetan woman who self-immolated on March 13, on the eve of Xi Jinping’s formal selection as the new President of China, became the 109th self-immolation case in Tibet to protest against Chinese oppressive rule in Tibet.

But according to various news sources, following her self-immolation protest, her husband Dolma Kyab has been arrested after he rejected to accept the Chinese authorities order to call her self-immolation protest as a result of family dispute. Currently, the condition and whereabouts of Kyab remain unknown. This is again an unfortunate attempt by Chinese government to distort the real information and accused innocent family members who is already a victim of the lost.  

 "This is not the first attempt by Chinese authorities to manipulate the real cause of self-immolation protest in Tibet. In the past, Chinese authorities have offered bribe and even threaten with heavy sentences to the family members," said Lamsang, General Secretary of Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamsala. 

"Through this protest action, we are calling the Chinese government to stop the crackdown and this ludicrous disinformation campaign. We would like to caution the international community – especially the news media – to ensure their coverage of this issue does not unwittingly reinforce China's attempt to put the blame on Tibetans, who are the victims here", added Lamsang. 

In the past, Chinese authorities have detained many Tibetans in relation to the self-immolations to shift the blame of self-immolation without dealing with the real cause of the self-immolations, that is failed Chinese policies in Tibet and decades long of oppressive rule under which Tibetans are suffering for so long time.Self-immolators have repeatedly called for the return of His holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and freedom in Tibet. 

“The continuous self-immolations by Tibetans inside Tibet is one of the strongest political statements that highlights the height of oppression under which Tibetans have been suffering for a long time,” said Dorjee Tseten, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet, India. “Chinese government’s attempt to conceal the reality by deploying heavy military and punishing innocent Tibetans or offering bribe will only further deteriorate the situation. Tibetans will not stop resisting until and unless China addresses the real issue of the Tibetan people. Therefore, we call for setting up an inter-governmental mechanism to put pressure on China on a multilateral front to end the military crackdown and the crisis in Tibet”, further said Dorjee.

Husband of Dolkar Tso, who self-immolated near the Tsoe Monastery in Kanlho on August 7, 2012, was secretly detained by Chinese security personnel after he rejected a bribe offer from the local Chinese authorities. Family members of Sangay Gyatso, 27, who passed away in his self-immolation protest against China’s continued occupation of Tibet on October 6, 2012 faced a similar situation when they were offered a bribe of one million Chinese Yuan (US $ 158,599) to sign a document stating that his self-immolation was not targeted against China’s rule over Tibet. 

On January 28, 2013, a Tibetan monk named Lobsang Kunchok was given a suspended death sentence (likely to be commuted to life), and his nephew Lobsang Tsering was sentenced to 10 years in a false allegation link to the self-immolations with no proper trail and process. News of self-immolators’ relatives’ arrest is the outmost concern of Tibetans and supporters everywhere, they said.