CTA Refutes Allegations over Inciting Self-immolations
December 10, 2012 1:07 pm
Press Release
10 December 2012
The Central Tibetan Administration invites the Chinese authorities to send an investigative team to Dharamsala, India, to prove their assertion that the self-immolations are incited by the Central Tibetan Administration and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is in the wake of a recent Xinhua report alleging that two Tibetans have confessed that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has instructed Tibetans to self-immolate.
Such statements from a state known to resort to torture and detention of individuals without due judicial process can only be received with scepticism from the international community.
“If China genuinely wishes to end the self-immolations, instead of resorting to the blame game it should allow unfettered access to international bodies to Tibetan areas to investigate the root causes for these self-immolations,” stated Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the democratically-elected leader of the Tibetan people and political successor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet.
The United Nations has requested the Chinese authorities to allow its agencies to visit Tibet to investigate the causes of Tibetans setting themselves on fire.
Both the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Commissioner of Germany, in their statements on 2 and 21 November respectively, urged the Chinese government to allow international observers to visit Tibet.
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Ms Navi Pillay, issued an unprecedented call to Chinese leaders to urgently address the underlying grievances of the Tibetan people. “Social stability in Tibet will never be achieved through heavy security measures and suppression of human rights,” Ms Pillay said. She appealed to the Chinese Government “to seriously consider the recommendations made to it by various international human rights bodies, as well as to avail itself of the expert advice being offered by the UN’s independent experts on human rights.”
The Human Rights Commissioner of Germany had urged the Chinese government to reform its policies and requested international observers be allowed to visit Tibet.
The Central Tibetan Administration believes that there is a way for China to end the crisis in Tibet. This path has been clearly laid out by His Holiness the Dalai Lama when he enunciated the Middle-Way policy. The Middle-Way policy does not seek independence for Tibet. Rather it seeks that the Tibetan plateau come under one single administration which enjoys real autonomy within the scope of the constitution of the People’s Republic China. The Central Tibetan Administration believes this is the aspiration of the Tibetan people as expressed by all the 95 Tibetans who self-immolated. All of them without exception called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to his homeland and freedom for the people of Tibet.
Media contact: Mr Lobsang Choedak, +91 98822 32476