Harsh clampdown fails as Tibet self-immolations cross 100

(TibetanReview.net, Feb16, 2013)  Brutal repression and punishment, including with murder charges, against friends, relatives and anyone else associated with or who sympathize with and pray for those who self-immolate in protest against Chinese rule has failed to prevent the number of Tibetans resorting to this fiery self-destruction from crossing the grim milestone of 100. At around 1 PM on Feb 13, Drukpa Khar, a 26-year-old father of three, torched himself at Achok town in Sangchu (Chinese: Xiahe) county of Kanlho (Gannan) Prefecture, Gansu Province, making him the 101st reported case of such mode of protest since Feb 2009.

The native of Lushoe Kyi village in Lower Achok township torched himself on the third day of Losar, the traditional Tibetan New Year. The day also marked the 100th anniversary of the 13th Dalai Lama’s proclamation of Tibet’s independence from Chinese rule or influence.

Like in most previous cases, Drukpa Khar burned to death, leaving behind his parents and three children, aged one to six years old.

China has refused to accept that its policies that repress Tibetan cultural and demographic identity, and their human rights and socio-economic plight, had anything to do with the extent of the Tibetan grievances expressed in such fiery self-destructions. Rather, it accuses what it calls the overseas Dalai Lama clique of instigating and encouraging such action with promises of respect as martyrs.

In India, the head of the Central Tibetan Administration at Dharamsala, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, reacted to the tragic milestone on Feb 14 by rejecting the Chinese claims. He offered to welcome the Chinese to Dharamsala to find out the truth themselves. And he called the self-immolations in Tibet “ultimate acts of civil disobedience against China’s failed rule in Tibet”.