Thursday, April 3, 2014

Week Ending 4 April 2014

International Tibet Network News Digest & Analysis: 4 April 2014

Self-Immolations, Protests, and Restrictions in Tibet
Tibetans demand fair compensation - RFA
3 April | On Wednesday April 2, over a hundred Tibetans living in Gansu province staged a protest demanding proper compensation for land seized and calling for "equal rights."

China sentences two Tibetan village leaders to 10 years’ imprisonment in Diru County - TCHRD
3 April | Ngangtak, 54, and Rigsal, 31 were sentenced on 14 January 2014 for allegedly failing to fulfill their duties as villager leaders and in the case of Ngangtak, for instigating fellow villagers against the Chinese authorities.

China sentences Tibetan monk to 18 years in prison - CTA
1 April | Thardoe Gyaltsen, the administrator of Drongna monastery in Driru county in Nagchu Prefecture in eastern Tibet was sentenced to 18 years in prison for allegedly storing photos and speeches of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Tibetan nun sets fire to herself outside monastery in first self-immolation in Bathang - ICT
31 March | The Tibetan nun, Dolma, is from a large family; three of her relatives have been identified as reincarnate lamas, and her sister is also a nun. She is believed to have made religious offerings before setting fire to herself near the circumambulation route outside Ba Choede monastery in the county town of Bathang.

Goshul Lobsang tortured with pain-inducing injections, leaves a defiant note after untimely death - TCHRD
31 March | New details received by TCHRD shed light on Goshul Lobsang’s lifelong resistance activities, his motivations, and the brutal treatment he endured in prison.

News
Tibetan Prisoner Released, Receives Hero's Welcome - RFA
3 April | Tsedak Gonpo, who was imprisoned for leading protests in his hometown of Meruma in Ngaba county in Sichuan province amid unrest that swept the region in 2008, was released from Mianyang prison on Tuesday.

Report: Tibetans in Nepal Are Suffering Under Growing Chinese Pressure - Time
1 April | Human Rights Watch says growing Chinese pressure on the Nepali government has led to restrictions and harassment of Tibetans seeking refuge in the country, traditionally a safe haven for those fleeing China's crackdown on religious freedom.

Roar of the Snow Lion: Tibetan writer Tashi Rabten released after 4 years in prison - TCHRD
1 April | Tashi Rabten was released Saturday, 29 March 2014 – to a warm and rousing welcome from his family members, relatives, friends and admirers. Tashi Rabten’s ‘crime’ for which he was sentenced to four years in prison was serving as one of the editors of the literary journal Shar Dung Ri (Eastern Snow Mountain) and penning a book titled Trag Yig (Written in Blood).

Opinion and Analysis
I unequivocally support the middle-way approach advocated by Dalai Lama: Karmapa - Economic Times
3 April | Ogyen Trinley Dorjee, the 17th Karmapa or head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, has for the first time slammed Beijing's totalitarian rule in Tibet and come out in open support of Dalai Lama's middle-path approach, or 'meaningful autonomy' to resolve the Tibetan crisis.

An alternative tribute to Bapa Phuntsog Wangyal - A slave mindset - Phayul
2 April | Vijay Kranti critiques Tibetan praise for Bapa Phuntsog Wangyal: “They are finding great solace in some meaningless, ineffective and result less advises which he wrote on paper to his communist masters, but are fully blind to the damage he inflicted consciously on his vulnerable motherland on moments when it hurt her most.”

A Merkel, a map, a message to China? - Foreign Policy
1 April | Angela Merkel presented to Xi a 1735 map of China which showed, according to its original Latin caption, the so-called "China Proper" -- that is, the Chinese heartland mostly populated by ethnic Han people, without Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, or Manchuria.