Dalai Lama, the exile Tibetan spiritual leader speaking for the first time on Tibetan protest and against Chinese crackdown reiterates Tibetan demand in terms of “real autonomy” and not complete independence while describing recent uprising as a “cultural genocide”.
While talking with media persons in McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh on Sunday he said, “Whether China admits or not there is a problem and China merely carrying out a cultural genocide and the ancient heritage is facing a danger.”
He further said that he is “helpless” in face of such pervasive protests and, more importantly he would not instruct his followers to relent.
Such statement also shows signs of Dalai Lama’s uncritical political statement, which over the years have merely transferred to simply Tibetan ‘cultural rights’ from the real Tibetan independence.
This was also probably for the first time that the recognised spiritual leader spoke out against China from Indian soil accused China of making Tibetan a scapegoat and hence in order to achieve peace the Tibetans are resenting.
He further mentioned the large-scale restrictions imposed on education in monasteries and hence demanded an international investigation to the recent bloodshed in Tibetan capital of Lhasa by Chinese force. However, he backed the upcoming Beijing Olympics and said that Olympics game in August shouldn’t be called off.
Situational and Historic Significance
The recent Tibet unrest too holds historic significance on the part of Sino-Tibet standoff as the day, March 10 marks the 1959 uprising against China. Despite a more alleviative stand from Dalai Lama, the Tibetan exiled political leader residing in India, it is believed that the younger generation of Tibet still looming into the idea of complete independence.
Perhaps Dalai Lama too understands public demand for Tibet’s independence and not his idea of a compromise policy with China.
The uprising among the younger generation can also be viewed with the economic inequity and the level of constraint present among Tibetans as compared to Chinese population in Lhasa. The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner - Dalai Lama - also has these facts in his conscience and compared the present uprising with the 1959, which was suppressed brutally by Chinese rule.
Though the autonomy of Tibet ended with the coming of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in power by 1949 and the year 1959 witnessed the failure of ‘Tibet uprisings’ along with the escape of Dalai Lama to India. There has been always a tense state of affairs present in the region. Beijing ever since has endorsed Tibet issue as its critical part and has always treated the territory with the hardest means to assert its right to incorporation of Tibet.
The Tibetans, too, found the occasion of Olympics in Beijing, which is now in all worlds’ focus, as the right moment to stage their protest and make the whole world know China and its human rights’ record remembering the past. But it is hard to guess whether International community will let all these happen or put some pressure on China recognising the political repression on Tibetan community.
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