By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala: April 28: A press statement released here today by the Office of the Central Executive Committee of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) calls for the commemoration of the 9th Anniversary of the Tibetan Martyr’s Day tomorrow (April 29.
Although the statement does not announce the arrangement of any specific event for the day, it is intended to remind fellow Tibetans of the significance of the day and to pay homage to brave Tibetan martyrs who made supreme sacrifices for the cause of Tibet and her people.
The statement claims that the historical self-immolation act of Pawo Thupten Ngodup on April 29, 1998 marked another new milestone to the Tibetan freedom struggle in exile. In a fist of fury and to vent out his frustration over the lack of international attention towards the suffering of Tibetan people and their struggle for lost independence, Pawo Thupten Ngodup, until then a silent activist, put himself ablaze over the sheer helplessness into which Tibetan freedom struggle was put into.
In the memory of the late Pawo Thupten Ngodup and thousands of other Tibetan martyrs, the day has since been marked as the Tibetan Martyrs Day by the TYC.
The statement also highlights the number of political prisoners still languishing in the Chinese prisons across Tibet.
According to Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), the current number of known Tibetan political prisoners stands at 116. Among the list of prominent ones are; Tulku Tenzin Delek, Bangri Rinpoche, Lobsang Tenzin, Chatrel Rinpoche, Gyaltsen Namdak, Nyima Dakpa, Yiwang, Lobsang Palden, Dolma Kyab, Tenzin Dhargey and Panchen Lama, who earlier on 25th April turned 18 after 12 years of Chinese captivity since 1995.
The statement further criticises Communist China of intensifying its crackdown on the innocent Tibetans in the run-up to 2008 Beijing Olympics resulting in more arrests, detention, and killings, and intensified defamation campaign against the Dalai Lama in recent times.
Describing China’s continued acts of atrocities in Tibet as “waging an all-out campaign to destroy Tibet and the Tibetans through illegal arrests, detention, executions, discrimination, marginalization, political repression and indoctrination and total assimilation policy by mass demographic resettlement in Tibet”, TYC’s statement calls upon the Tibetans to strengthen their struggle for an independent Tibet, which is now reeling under the autocratic and totally oppressive communist regime.
TYC also states in its statement today that it is seeking international community to take more concrete actions in resolving the issue of Tibet peacefully before it gets too late.
TYC, headquartered in Dharamsala, is a worldwide Organisation of Tibetans united in the common struggle for the restoration of independence for the whole of Tibet and is currently the largest Tibetan NGO functioning in exile.
Find the full version of the statement here
