'Anti-terror' exercises in Tibet

[Ray]

'Anti-terror' exercises in Tibet

China held anti-terrorism exercises in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) amid reports of unrest, with two self-immolation protests and clashes with police forces in Tibetan areas reported by overseas groups on Tuesday.

Officials said the exercises were held at the Lhasa railway station and the Gonggar airport in the TAR capital on Monday. Authorities cited intelligence reports suggesting that "hostile forces" would plan activities ahead of the crucial 18th Party Congress, scheduled for October or November.

The exercises were held amid reports of new self-immolations, with four protests reported in the past week in the predominantly Tibetan Aba prefecture in southwestern Sichuan province, which borders TAR.

Aba has been at the centre of the wave of at least 48 self-immolations by monks, nuns and ordinary Tibetans reported since March last year.

Monks formerly at the influential Kirti monastery in Aba who are now in India identified Monday's protesters as a 21-year-old former monk named Tashi; and a 20-year-old monk called Langtag. Both set themselves on fire on a main road through Aba — now called Hero's Road — on which many of the protests have occurred.

Both monks were taken away by security forces. While Tashi is undergoing treatment for severe burns, the whereabouts and condition of Langtag was unclear, monks said. Overseas groups also reported clashes with security forces following the immolations, but local officials told news agencies that there were no such incidents.

TIGHTER SECURITY

In recent weeks, authorities have boosted the deployment of security forces in Tibetan areas in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai, where most of the self-immolations have taken place. Security has also been tightened in Lhasa, with checkpoints disallowing non-residents from entering the city, according to locals.

Local officials have accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the incidents — a charge denied by the revered exiled religious leader — and have even described them as acts of terrorism. The Dalai Lama has blamed the government's restrictive religious policies for triggering the protests.

The antiterrorism exercise held on Monday in Lhasa was named "Plateau Guards 2012". The Communist Party-run Global Times newspaper reported that security forces had simulated "twin terrorist attacks", in which attackers had hijacked an aircraft and a train. Similar drills were held last summer.

Xiong Kunxin, a professor with the Minzu University or University of Minorities, told the newspaper that the drills were being held in preparation for the Party Congress. "Hostile forces will consider the 18th National Congress a time to sabotage the security and social stability of the country," he said, adding that "outside infiltrators and some people incited by the Dalai clique may launch terrorist attacks in the region."

The Hindu : News / International : 'Anti-terror' exercises in Tibet

Apparently, it is not mere Tibetans setting themselves on fire.

The situation must be worse than what is reported, and anyway nothing can get reported from Tibet and Xinjiang since the movement of foreigners are restricted and overseen by minders.

Why this sudden scare amongst the Chinese?

The Chinese have huge amount of troops and police in Tibet and they have Sinicised or Han-ised Greater Tibet as it is.

So, why is sudden scare?

 

[Ray]

Protestor from Tibet beaten to death in China

Two persons including a monk self-immolated themselves in the Ngaba town in the Sichuan area of China in what seems to be a spurt in cases of ethnic Tibetans setting themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule. Five Tibetans have set themselves on fire in the last week, according
to a London-based rights group and 48 till March last year.

A former monk, Tashi, 21, and his former classmate, a monk called Lungtok, age 20 set fire to themselves in Ngaba Town on Monday evening, Free Tibet said in a statement.

"Lungtok is reported to have died; Tashi was last seen, with severe injuries, being taken from the county hospital towards Barkham," it added.

The group added that the two men set themselves on fire inside a prayer-wheel hut near Kirti Monastery in Ngaba Town and then, once they were in flames, came out of the hut and walked towards the street now known as Martyrs' Street.

The group claimed that security personnel use metal batons spiked with nails to beat Tibetans. Quoting unnamed witnesses, the group claimed: "Enraged at seeing Tashi being beaten, locals began to demonstrate, calling out slogans. Their numbers quickly increased, and more Chinese state security forces arrived at the scene. Eyewitnesses report that some demonstrators were beaten with metal batons spiked with nails and that some people were dragged away."

A large number of military and paramilitary forces are reported to have been deployed to the town where tensions are escalating. The Chinese government was yet to react to the latest cases of immolations.

The official reaction to a similar incident of self-immolation by a 26-year-old woman and mother of two last week was that it was a result of family problems.

"Drung Gertso, 26, set herself on fire at the Tso Monastery in the city of Tso in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture after she refused to return to her husband's home as her parents wanted, according to a written statement issued by the Gannan prefectural committee of the Communist Party of China," an official statement had said.Protestor from Tibet beaten to death in China - Hindustan Times

Things seem to be getting hot in Tibet!

 

[Ray]

Tibetan self-immolations: 'Clashes' in Sichuan province
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Two more Tibetans are reported to have set themselves on fire in Tibetan areas of China, in protest against Chinese rule.

A monk named Lungtok and a man identified as Tashi set themselves alight in Aba, Sichuan province, on Monday evening, said Tibetan sources.

Clashes between Chinese security personnel and Tibetans reportedly broke out following the self-immolations.

More than 40 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in the past year.

Five - these two men and three previous protesters - have self-immolated in the last 10 days alone, say campaigners, in what appears to be an escalation of Tibetan protests inside China.

An unconfirmed report says one Tibetan was beaten to death.

'Batons spiked with nails'
Twenty-year-old Lungtok and 21-year-old Tashi "set themselves on fire inside a prayer-wheel hut near Kirti Monastery in Ngaba Town", reported campaign group Free Tibet, using the Tibetan name for the town which China refers to as Aba.

"Once they were in flames, [they] came out of the hut and walked towards the street now known as Martyrs' Street," overtly linking their action to the protests of previous self-immolators, it said.

Chinese paramilitary police quickly moved in with extinguishers, local sources said, and whisked away the two men. Free Tibet said Lungtok died and Tashi's condition was unknown.

Multiple reports suggest that following the self-immolations Tibetans began to demonstrate and their numbers quickly increased.

"Eyewitnesses report that some demonstrators were beaten with metal batons spiked with nails and that some people were dragged away," said Free Tibet.

Many people were injured and some were detained, it said.

A source who spoke to Radio Free Asia (RFA) said one Tibetan was beaten to death, but this report has not been confirmed. RFA also carried a report of a third self-immolation, but this too was unconfirmed.

'Incitement'

A woman who answered the phone at the Aba police department denied any self-immolations or protests had taken place, reported the Associated Press news agency.

Kirti Monastery has been the focus of protests for over a year now and is ringed by Chinese security forces, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.

But they have proved unable to halt the self-immolations.

China's leaders blame the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans' exiled spiritual leader, for inciting the self-immolations and encouraging separatism.

He rejects this, and both activist groups and the Tibetan government-in-exile say the self-immolations are protests against tight Chinese control of the region and religious repression.

BBC News - Tibetan self-immolations: 'Clashes' in Sichuan province

 

[Ray]

Tibetans protest Chinese police 'brutality': group
(AFP) – 6 hours ago

BEIJING — Hundreds of Tibetans demonstrated in northwest China on Tuesday after police beat four people, an exile group and a US broadcaster said, following a recent string of self-immolations in the region.

The UK-based Free Tibet said hundreds of people gathered outside a police headquarters in Qinghai province's Tongren county after police dragged four ethnic Tibetans from a car, beat them and threatened them with guns.

US broadcaster Radio Free Asia quoted witnesses as saying the police appeared to be drunk, and "severely beat" the four men. Tongren government and security officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The protests followed reports of clashes in the neighbouring province of Sichuan on Monday, where two ethnic Tibetans set themselves on fire on Monday to protest Chinese rule, leading to bloody clashes between residents and police.

Exile groups say nearly 50 ethnic Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks and nuns, have set themselves on fire since March 2011 to protest restrictions on their religious freedom.

An influx of Han Chinese, the country's largest ethnic group, to China's vast Tibetan-inhabited areas has also created tensions.

Violent anti-government protests in the Tibetan capital in Lhasa in 2008 later spread to other areas populated by Tibetans, prompting tight security in these regions that has at times led to clashes.

Beijing insists Tibetans are free to practise their religion and have benefited from improved living standards under Chinese rule.

AFP: Tibetans protest Chinese police 'brutality': group

There seems to be something going grossly wrong with the Chinese control of Tibet.

Maybe the Dalai Lama is proving to be a greater inspiration to the Tibetans.

Things don't look comfortable for China.

If the Uighurs use this opportunity, things will get to be a bit more disastrous for the Han Chinese and their Govt at Beijing!

 

[amitkriit]

There seems to be something going grossly wrong with the Chinese control of Tibet.

Maybe the Dalai Lama is proving to be a greater inspiration to the Tibetans.

Things don't look comfortable for China.

If the Uighurs use this opportunity, things will get to be a bit more disastrous for the Han Chinese and their Govt at Beijing!

On the contrary, Dalai Lama is the person who has managed to keep the Tibetan youth away from the path of violence. It is speculated that after the death of Dalai Lama the movement will shun the non-violent ways.

 

[s002wjh]

There seems to be something going grossly wrong with the Chinese control of Tibet.

Maybe the Dalai Lama is proving to be a greater inspiration to the Tibetans.

Things don't look comfortable for China.

If the Uighurs use this opportunity, things will get to be a bit more disastrous for the Han Chinese and their Govt at Beijing!

violence will not solve the issue, if there is some kind terroist attack, it give the government more excuse to send in overwhelming force to crash down any potential terrorist suspect. and they won't get any sympathy from international. china won't go easy on terroist. also han outnumber tibet/uighur what 100:1, so violence is the worst way to make the point.

 

[Ray]

violence will not solve the issue, if there is some kind terroist attack, it give the government more excuse to send in overwhelming force to crash down any potential terrorist suspect. and they won't get any sympathy from international. china won't go easy on terroist. also han outnumber tibet/uighur what 100:1, so violence is the worst way to make the point.

I don't think the Tibetans will resort to terrorist attacks.

Terrorist attacks can be expected of the Uighurs.

On the issue of international view, even if there is violence, it will be always be with the Tibetans and the Uighurs as we saw in the last Uprisings/ strife.

I would not believe that the Tibetans did not retaliate in the last Uprising. I am sure they did and would have damaged the property of the Han and Hui. And yet, there was hardly any condemnation worth its name from the international community. The reason possibly is that the international community feels that the Chinese Communist Govt is too harsh and is capable of using a sledge hammer to kill a fly.

Even with the Uighurs and they can be very harsh and cruel, the terrorist actions were overlooked and more was made out of the fact that the Han was not giving the share that the Uighurs deserve in their homeland.

There is no doubt that China will not go easy with the terrorists and they will come down heavily.

 

[Ray]

On the contrary, Dalai Lama is the person who has managed to keep the Tibetan youth away from the path of violence. It is speculated that after the death of Dalai Lama the movement will shun the non-violent ways.

I think you are right.

The new generation of Tibetans are restive and restless and want action.

They have also openly been unhappy with the view of the Dalai Lama.

The new PM of Tibet Govt in exile has exhibited belligerence in his opinions and speech.

 

[s002wjh]

I don't think the Tibetans will resort to terrorist attacks.

Terrorist attacks can be expected of the Uighurs.

On the issue of international view, even if there is violence, it will be always be with the Tibetans and the Uighurs as we saw in the last Uprisings/ strife.

I would not believe that the Tibetans did not retaliate in the last Uprising. I am sure they did and would have damaged the property of the Han and Hui. And yet, there was hardly any condemnation worth its name from the international community. The reason possibly is that the international community feels that the Chinese Communist Govt is too harsh and is capable of using a sledge hammer to kill a fly.

Even with the Uighurs and they can be very harsh and cruel, the terrorist actions were overlooked and more was made out of the fact that the Han was not giving the share that the Uighurs deserve in their homeland.

There is no doubt that China will not go easy with the terrorists and they will come down heavily.

no the media was bias and bashing china on the uprising, however, no government really do anything. its all just words. look at the result of those uprising, tighter security, china bring in thousands police into region, tighter religion control etc. no international government will intervene. 1. its internal issue, 2 china is not genocide them 3. money talk, and china has alot trading partners.

the tibet/xinjing is lose cause, there is no possible way for them to become independent unless china have a civil war. the best they can do for themself is adapt to the situation, and take the economy opportunity to give their family a better life. the only way they can have more religion freedom is when china doing an overall change in political reform. or they can move to other country if they prefer to have more religion freedom.