Dharamsala, Sep 29 (IANS) Rights group Amnesty International has urged China to end ‘repressive practices’ in Tibet, the Tibetan government-in-exile said here Thursday.
‘These recent immolations (by two monks) have reportedly been protests against the Chinese government’s repression of freedom of religion and cultural rights in Tibetan areas,’ a post on the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) quoted the Amnesty International as saying.
‘Amnesty International urges the Chinese government to end these repressive practices immediately and respect the right of Tibetans to practise their culture and religion’
‘The Chinese government has clamped down on the monasteries at the centre of these incidents — Kirti monastery in Ngaba county, Sichuan province, and Nyitse monastery in Kardze country, also in Sichuan,’ it added.
The CTA said the monks who tried to kill themselves this week, belonging to the Kirti monastery in northeastern Tibet, are Lobsang Kelsang and Lobsang Kunchok.
The former is a relative of monk Phuntsok, who set himself afire March 16 in the Kirti monastery complex to protest the repression of the widespread peaceful protests across Tibet in 2008.
‘The recent series of self-immolation in Tibet attest to the desperation of the Tibetan people arising from the grim current situation in which they live,’ a CTA statement said.
