Tibet burns with 129th self-immolation

Dharamsala, March 31, 2014: On March 29 at three o' clock in the afternoon a Tibetan Buddhist nun set herself on fire near the Ba-Chodhe Monastery in Bathang province of Eastern Kham region of Tibet. Tibetans who were around the monastery for circumambulations upon the seeing the nun on fire doused the fire and rushed the nun to a nearby hospital.
Immediately after the self-immolation incident the Chinese security forces cut all telecommunication links to that area and therefore no further information is available.
“The Chinese security forces have surrounded the hospital area and flooded the whole region with armed security personnel fearing Tibetan protest” said Tibetan exile Member of Parliament, Bawa Kalsang Gyaltsen who is native of the region where March 29 self-immolation happened. “Even the name and details about the nun's family have been not known. We are trying to our best to secure more information” he added.
“This is the 129th known case of Tibet self-immolation out of which 111 have died” said Tenzin Dolkar, President of Regional Tibetan Women's Association. She adds: “Despite repeated request by Tibetan Government in exile based in Dharamsala self-immolations in Tibet have been rising undauntedly as Chinese security forces further tightened their rule in Tibet making common people's life claustrophobic. All the Tibet self-immolators have called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and demanded freedom for Tibet.”
“This is the first-immolation in Bawa region, it brings this region into the landscape of Tibet self-immolations. Bawa is further down in China-administered Shechuan Province, a hugely Chinese dominated Tibetan territory,” said Tenzin Tsundue of Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamsala.