Round The World
New
Delhi, 18 March 2008
Violence Lhasa Protests
CHINA MUST TREAD CAUTIOUSLY
By Monika
Chansoria
(School of International
Studies, JNU)
The Tibetan capital of Lhasa
has been ablaze with severe rioting breaking out during the past week. According
to official figures at least 10 people were burnt to death, in what could well
be termed as the most violent pro-independence protests to have rocked the
region in nearly two decades. However, Tibetan activists claim the figure of
casualties was much higher.
This turmoil in Lhasa has
occurred at a politically fragile time for China, which has incessantly been
under the scanner over its human rights record as it prepares to host the 2008
Olympic Games in August. Beijing
has kept a tight lid on dissent before the Olympics and may be wary of cracking
down by the use of force in order to curtail any form of opposition. Negotiations
and diplomacy are the call of the hour.
On March 14, the remote, mountain capital
witnessed fresh violence as shops and police vehicles were set afire, in
addition to the rioters burning police cars and targeting many shops that were
owned by the Han Chinese, China’s biggest ethnic group. Thereafter, the police
burst teargas shells to control the crowds and ordered monks to confine
themselves within the monasteries as hundreds of Tibetans joined demonstrations
as a sign of protest against Chinese rule.
The Chinese authorities came down heavily against the
rioters and announced that people who took part in the riots should surrender
by March 17, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. “Those
who turn themselves in to public security or judicial organs March 17, could
receive light or reduced punishment, according to law,” said a notice issued by
the Chinese-controlled Tibetan government police and judicial authorities.
The announcement of the security crackdown came as state
television for the first time showed scenes of rioters burning buildings,
another sign that authorities are preparing a public campaign to condemn the
riots.
The Chinese media and the government of the Tibetan
Autonomous Region (TAR) accused the Dalai Lama for ‘inciting the riots’. The
exiled Tibetan spiritual leader too lashed back by condemning the use of ‘brute
force’ by Beijing.
He described the protests as a manifestation of the ‘deep-rooted resentment of
the Tibetan people under the present governance’. Crucially, the Tibetan
government-in-exile has demanded the United Nations to intervene so as to end
what it called ‘urgent human rights violations’ by China
in Tibet.
Apparently, the initial incident that triggered the ongoing
violence and bloodshed occurred on March 10, when around 500 monks left the
Drepung Monastery intending to march five miles west to the city center. This
move could well be termed as a lucid public challenge to the Chinese rule as the
monks from the monastery defied the authorities by
staging a rare march in the remote Tibetan capital.
Subsequently, around 2,000 Chinese security
personnel fired tear gas in an effort to disperse 600 monks from the Sera
Monastery taking part in the second day of street protests in Lhasa. The demonstrations over past couple of
days have followed marches around the world to mark the 49th
anniversary of an uprising against Communist rule in the remote, mountainous
region that has become a focal point for protests ahead of this year’s Beijing
Olympics.
Monks belonging to the Sera Monastery began a hunger strike demanding the
withdrawal of paramilitary People’s Armed Police forces from the monastery
compound and the release of monks detained during the protests. Resultantly, Chinese military and police forces are reportedly
heavily guarding and surrounding the monasteries in and around Lhasa. Moreover, news of the protests has
been censored all over the Chinese news media, and Beijing
has restricted foreign journalists to travel to Lhasa without permission.
Beijing has already made clear it saw no
rationale to alter its policies in Tibet, where many locals resent the
presence of the Han Chinese. “We are fully capable of maintaining the social
stability of Tibet,”
Xinhua quoted an official as saying in a statement that was repeated
across Chinese state media. Furthermore, the Chinese
government termed these incidents ‘an illegal activity that threatened social
stability’ thereby attempting to scar China’s image months before the
upcoming Olympics.
The spokesman for Chinese Foreign Ministry Qin
Gang confirmed that protests had in fact erupted in Lhasa, but declined to provide details. “In
the past couple of days, a few monks in Lhasa
have made some disturbances in an effort to cause unrest,” Qin stated at a news
conference. “Thanks to the efforts of the local government and the democratic
administration of the temples, the situation in Lhasa has been stabilized.”
The International Campaign for Tibet in a statement has said that “The
demonstrations are the largest by monks since the 1989 protests that led to the
imposition of martial law in Tibet’s
capital.” Yet another Tibetan rights group said about 400 monks from Lutsang
Monastery in the northwestern province
of Qinghai, known in
Tibetan as Amdo, protested and shouted slogans for the return of the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama heads the Tibetan government-in-exile in
Dharamsala, a town situated in the hills of north India. He
fled to India following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, nine years after the People’s Liberation Army
troops marched into the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region. In his
hard-hitting remarks, the Dalai Lama said that “repression continues to
increase with numerous, unimaginable and gross violations of human rights,
denial of religious freedom and the politicization of religious issues” by
China. He has called for greater pressure on China
over its human rights record and the Tibetan activists are hoping to use China’s hosting
of the Olympics to publicize their cause.
In India,
over 100 Tibetan exiles have been barred by New Delhi
from marching to Tibet to
protest against China
holding the Olympics, according to local police officials. The planned
six-month march from India
to Tibet
began on March 10, to coincide with the anniversary of the failed uprising in
1959.
Before the marchers in India
set off, the Dalai Lama said he approved of China
hosting the Games because it provided the world a chance to pressurize Beijing to uphold the
Olympic ideals of freedom of speech and equality. “China should prove itself a good
host by providing these freedoms. Therefore, besides sending their athletes,
the international community should remind the Chinese government of these
issues,” he said.
Significantly, violent demonstrations in the
heavily militarized region is precisely what the Chinese leadership is keen to
avoid ahead of the Olympics, so as to enhance its stature as a regional power and most
significantly, a responsible player on the global platform. The current defiance in Lhasa appears as an attempt to draw global
attention to what is seen as Chinese suppression of Tibetan identity. And, the present conflict is a comprehensible indication of spars
between the Tibetan and Chinese authorities in the coming future. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|